[Results after surgery of incisional hernias]

The purpose of this paper is to describe the subjective results after operation for ventral hernia. Patients operated for ventral hernia in the period from January 1, 1988 to December 31, 1992 were sent a questionnaire with a response rate of 87%. Forty-five percent had lasting discomfort, 30% were absent due to illness more than eight weeks after the operation and 22% were not able to go to work. These factors increase with the number of hernia operations. Regardless of the number of operations, about 70% of the patients wanted a new operation should the hernia recur. It is therefore important to give the patient an objective and detailed information to prevent from unrealistic expectations of the results of ventral hernia operation.