BioHernia Reviews 229

I am pleased with the results of the operation, I no longer have an inguinal hernia and my quality of life has improved.
My experience with BioHernia was brilliant.
I found Dr. Koch and his colleagues at the surgery to be very helpful and professional. Talking to Dr.Koch and the anaesthetist before my operation helped me understand what I would experience I am pleased
that my recovery after the operation has been good. I am swimming, but I will take it slowly before I get involved in any other sporting activities.

Beforehand it was one thing certain for me, I do not want my inguinal hernia to be treated with the placement of a mat, but with the so-called Shouldice plastic, repair with my own connective tissue. This is not a simple surgical technique and that is why I deliberately chose Dr. Andreas Koch in Cottbus, he uses this technique very frequently and is therefore very skilled in it. I am now 10 weeks after the operation extremely satisfied, I have recovered well from a successful operation. The stay in Cottbus was fine, everything was well taken care of down to the last detail. Friendly people in clinic and hotel, very good aftercare from Dr. Koch in the hotel

I met Andreas Koch, he instilled trust as a surgeon and as personality. After my operation he visited me four times. Four weeks later my body is healthy again and capable of doing everything. Last but not least aesthetically sound. Best regards Frans, the Netherlands.

It's been six weeks now since my double hernia operation by dr. Koch in Cottbus, and the healing process has gone very smoothly. I'm fully functional again, and - most importantly - without having a mesh implanted! Dr. Koch has a relaxed, comforting attitude, which put me at ease before the operation. Nothing but the highest of compliments to dr. Koch and his team, they've cared for me very well. Also, the services of BioHernia and Nahom were impeccable.

Dr Koch was friendly and has done a fine job of my double hernia operation. I'm thankful he took on my more difficult case of having a failed hernia repair to fix. Both sides feel very good and I'm back to doing strenuous activities. Very pleased.

I had my intake in Amsterdam, after the intake: the follow-up information of the proces with insurancecompanies was very good. The proces in Cottbus was also easy. The hotel was okay, right in city centre with a lot of restaurants on walking distance, which is nice the first days after surgery. Everything was arranged very good: taxi from hotel to practice and visaversa. I think the procedure itself took a 1 hour?
For me dr. Koch is not only a good doctor, but also a fine person: good communication skills, to the point, personal involvement during your whole stay etc..
I'm so glad I choose for this way of procedure, it's a shame that not any professional doctor in the Netherlands tells you about this procedure, not even in the "specialized hernia centra".
Now a month after having the surgery, everything is okay and I can do all my activities again. The best thing afterwards is to know that no mesh is in my body, this gives me inner-peace. So, doctor Koch and staff: thank your very much for your services. Wish you all the best! A.d.O (NL)

I recently had surgery in September 2022 by Dr. Wiese in Kelheim. I had choosen to travel to Germany because shouldice operation is no more possible in France.

Nahom of Biohernia provides a great help to organise the travel, hôtel reservation, and a lot of information, it really makes things easy and I always felt very confident.

The surgery by Dr. Wiese was a success, this gentleman is a nice person and very experienced, as well as the team around him. Now, after six weeks I can practise sport again like running as before and with no pain. I am very happy with my choice.

Just one point to mention : During the visit just before surgery, Dr Wiese mentioned that he could insert a Phasix mesh, a resorbable monofilament scaffold, which eventually happened to me (cost around 1100€). Unless I made a mistake, this should be mentioned clearly.

Having noticed a mild inginual hernia (although not painful), I went to see my both my GP and a private consultant to seek further advice. Unfortunately the 'wait' times were more than a year and whilst the private hospital could do the operation within a few weeks, the only method of surgery available in Scotland (and indeed Britain) was the insertion of the surgical mesh.

Had my wife not done some research on this method, I would probably have been none the wiser to the potential issues that can arise post surgery. To reinforce this, I had met some tradesmen who had problems following the mesh repair and were left with chronic pain at times and some where the hernia had returned.

This sets the scene for us having came across the company 'Biohernia'. Having intitially consulted Nahom (an absolute gentleman) via email, he carefully explained the entire process. Of course, Biohernia uses surgeons who specialise in hernia repairs using many techniques but especially the 'gold' standard of hernia repair; the Shouldice pure tissue repair.

I'm not the best patient and tend to get anxious with any medical ailment but I must say that having an initial zoom consultation with Dr Martin Wiese, I was very confident I was in the best hands. Dr Wiese answered all my questions (his English is impeccable) and immediately put me at ease with any anxieties I had. His friendly and jovial sense of humour made me realise that my anxieties were unfounded.

From hereon, the protocol was very straighforward. Nahom presented some available dates for the surgery in Kelkheim. I opted for Thursday October 13, 2022. The planning was extremely simple. I only had to organise flights with my wife and some travel insurance whilst Nahom organised the hotel accommodation (Hotel Arkaden - right across the street from the medical centre). Hotel Arkaden is very competitively priced, the rooms are immaculate and the staff are very helpful.

We duly flew out from Glasgow to Frankfurt on Tuesday afternoon, arriving at around 4pm. I used an online taxi company to prebook a taxi from the airport to the hotel. I was delighted to meet Saad, our driver who had lived and worked in London, and was able to give us an insight into cultural life etc. in Kelkheim. The drive was no more than 25 minutes.

Kelkheim - what a beautiful village. Loads of lovely walks, nice shops, excellent restaurants etc. We went out on Tuesday evening and had a lovely bite to eat and a glass of wine (or two lol!).

On Wednesday morning we had a lovely breakfast at the hotel Arkaden and then discovered more of the quaint little village of Kelkheim. 2pm - consultation with Dr Wiese .... I've now met the surgeon who will do the surgery the following day. Everything was fine. I'm in general good health and Dr Martin explained the procedure. A wonderful physician! I call him the hernia 'guru'. He's done thousands of hernia repairs and has an impeccable record. I actually felt a bit daft that I had all this unfounded pepped up anxiety. Following his orders I duly went out that evening and had a wonderful dinner (pasta) and began the fast at midnight.

I arrived at the medical centre on Thursday around 11am and within the hour I was prepped up for the operation. Dr Martin in his usual comedic style gave me a few laughs before the surgery. I duly went into the theatre around midday and looked at the ceiling lights ... and looked ... and looked ... thinking? When do I get the general anaesthetic. Nurse Alexandra then looked over me saying 'how are you'? 'Fine, I said...what about the hernia operation?' How stupid I felt to realise it was all done. It all happened in the blink of an eye. The nurses thought it was funny. So there was I, sitting up with a coffee and some cake and chocolate. By 3.30pm I was dressed and leaving the medical centre.

We walked a few hours absolutely pain free. The analgesic was great! That evening, we had another lovely dinner at an italian restaurant recommended by Dr. Martin. I had a relatively good sleep that evening with absolute minimal and tolerable pain.

The following morning I had breakfast and was able to take some ibuprofen and paracetamol given by the medical centre. I cannot stress enough that the pain was much less than I had anticipated and was very manageable. Having went to see Dr. Martin for my final check up, he duly removed the absorbent cloth and applied a clear elastoplast to the scar which was done with total precision. We bid farewell and did more walking that day before returning home on the Saturday.

Within several days, I was off the painkillers and feeling better every day. I am now 2 weeks post op. and enjoying the time off work.

If, like myself, you are feeling quite anxious regarding the hernia procedure, I cannot recommend enough Biohernia and Dr. Martin Wiese and his team. Awesomene !

Dr Wiese carried out my operation for a right side inguinal hernia on 4 August 2022. The entire process was timely and efficient and I was at ease throughout. I arrived on 2 August and checked into the Arkaden Hotel. The hotel reception staff were accommodating and friendly at all times and my room clean and perfectly adequate. I took a two hour walk in a nearby woodland which was beautiful and relaxing; a perfect first day in Kelkheim. On 3 August I had a planned consultation with Dr Wiese who explained the process clearly and concisely and instilled great confidence that I was in a 'safe pair of hands'; I left feeling reassured that I had made an excellent choice. He also recommended a superb local Italian restaurant 'La Strada' at which I dinned that evening and on two subsequent evenings. On the day of the operation, I arrived at 7.30, had a conversation with the anaesthetist and was in the operating room by 8.30. I woke up at 10 and was met by Dr Wiese who confirmed that all was good. I left the hospital at 12.30 and was walking immediately around the local area; probably courtesy of the nerve block! I followed Dr Wiese instructions to keep moving and was pain free until late evening. The next day I continued to take short walks, stopping when the pain 'kicked in' and which diminished as soon as I sat down. The night was understandably uncomfortable but manageable. I had travelled alone and on Saturday 6 , I took a taxi to Frankfurt airport and returned home. On returning home, I
continued to walk every day, taking breaks when the pain demanded. For the first 7 days I experienced appreceable pain when walking for more than 15 minutes, but this gradually improved. I stopped pain relief on about day 6. At three weeks I travelled to Italy and was easily able to drive and walk any distance with only the occasional reminder of my operation. I would say that I was effectively symptom free after about 25 days, with only very mild discomfort.
I am now 5 weeks out from the operation and am following a stretching regime and plan to recommence my cycling and moderate strength training at 6 weeks, although Dr Wiese gave me the all clear at 4 weeks; I guess that I am a little cautious, but what's the hurry. I still have a very small amount of swelling which Dr Wiese suggested is common, but I am sure that will subside over time. Just to mention that the stretching has caused a minor irritation near the incision which of course may be unrelated, but I have reduced the intensity a little; always listen to your body. I conclude by saying that the experience was excellent and I would recommend and indeed have already recommended BioHernia and Dr Wiese to anybody who wishes to avoid having a mesh implant with complete confidence in a perfect outcome.

As an alpine mountaineer, I was very concerned how hernia surgery might affect my ability to continue highly demanding athletic activities (as a critical aspect to a meaningful personal life) and searched for feedback about “athletic” recovery prior to my surgeries. Most reviews described experiences relatively soon after surgery and I decided to wait with my review until I had experience of regaining prior levels of athletic abilities to share.

After competently managed pre-surgery logistics by Nahom, Dr Koch performed two successful surgeries as a single procedure in late January 2022. The immediate post-surgery recovery proceeded as expected and very similar to what others described. Cleared to resume unrestricted activities after the six week recovery period, I experienced occasional "pinging" sensations with both repaired hernias (but never at the same time). These subsided and turned barely noticeable 4 month post surgery.

My primary concern was any symptoms triggered by exhaustion which is quite inevitable with high altitude alpine mountaineering due to unpredictably changing conditions such as negotiating unexpected route (e.g. landslides, snow levels) and weather conditions. In such locations, there is rarely ever an option to short-cut or escape and resilience and stamina to continue in adverse conditions are critical safety issues.

Not surprisingly, I had some physiological reactions to unexpected physical challenges (e.g. a strong head wind river kayaking towards a destination) early on in my recovery. However, several month on from my surgeries, I am quite relieved to report that a resumption of alpine mountaineering since has yet to produce a single hernia related symptom.

A big thank you to Dr Koch and his team

Tom, London UK

Desiring as mesh-free a repair as possible for my complicated right and simpler left inguinal hernias, I came across BioHernia on the internet.

Dealing with Nahom was an absolute pleasure from start to finish. I had an excellent Zoom consult with Dr Martin Wiese in March 2022 from my home way down south. Surgery was booked for June 2022 to allow time for travel arrangements. After a 10 hour direct flight to Frankfurt, I made my way to the Arkaden Hotel in Kelkheim, my home for the next week. I cannot speak highly enough of their warm and excellent hospitality.

The next day I crossed the road to the GesundheitsZentrum and met Dr Wiese in person. He exuded all the qualities one would want in a surgeon, and I knew that I was in safe and exceptionally experienced hands. Surgery followed the next morning and by midday I was back in my hotel room. That evening I was following doctor’s orders dining out and exploring Kelkheim on foot.

Day 3 post-op I self-medicated by slowly walking the 9km return trip to Bad Soden for tea & Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte at Café Merci. All things considered, I felt great, which was in no small measure due to the top quality medical care I was enjoying.

After receiving the medical go-ahead, I flew back down south late on Day 5 post-op (with bio-absorbable mesh reinforcing the tissue repair, as planned by Dr Wiese at my March consultation because of the complication).

I have no hesitation in strongly recommending the world-class services of Dr Wiese & his team, and the hospitality of the Arkaden Hotel, all so expertly arranged by Nahom of BioHernia.

I went for my operation in June 2022. Decided to have the operation with Dr. Wiese in Kelkheim [close to Frankfurt]. A hotel booking was taken care of by BioHernia. All the contact with BioHernia and with Dr. Wiese and his team was very pleasant and professional.

My operation [right side inguinal hernia] went without complications. After a checkup and another night at the hotel I was able to go back home.

Super happy with the skills of Dr. Wiese and the option provided by BioHernia to have this type of operation without a plastic mesh!

I am very happy I could exploit this possibility for an alternative treatment of inguinal hernia. Therefore, I am very thankful there is the BioHernia website providing both relevant information and excellent service during the whole process from inquiry to follow-up. Similarly I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to dr Martin Weise and his team for not only their top professionalism, but also their great sense of humanity. I can thus strongly recommend BioHernia to anyone interest in an alternative and more natural treatment of this disorder. It should according to my opinion become the future standard procedure, because of its advantages compared to existing options using foreign and unaccustomed reparing materials.

/Henry

I've been struggling with my inguinal hernia for almost 4 years and I was a day before doing it with mesh since in my home country there aren't any surgeons to do a classic shouldice hernia repair. After searching online I've found about BioHernia I think two years ago and been reading their reviews and Dr Koch's. I've been watching Dr Koch on youtube and read about his work therefore I was confident I wanted to do my surgery with him. I've moved to the Netherlands a while back and almost immediately contacted BioHernia. I was in luck that Dr Koch was doing face to face checkups in Amsterdam and therefore I went to see him. He is really nice and funny and from the beginning I was confident that I'm in good hands, therefore I've scheduled my procedure in Cottbus.
I had my surgery a month ago and waited till now to write a review. I can say without any doubt that this is the best decision I've ever made!
Nahom from BioHernia was always very responsive and guided me through the process. I've bought the plane tickets and they took care of the rest. The Sorat hotel in Cottbus is decent and was close to the city center.
One day before the surgery, on the 15'th I had an appointment again with Dr Koch and the anesthesiologist. I had a previous nose surgery 15 years ago and had full anesthesia and the recovery was really bad with lots of fainting, tiredness and really a bad feeling. I told the anesthesiologist about my horror story with the last full anesthesia and she ensured me I will not have any issues with it. Therefore I left the hospital being confident about the surgery.
In the morning of the surgery I went to the hospital and we were about 4 patients waiting for the surgery. A nice lady came and helped me with some constraining socks (to prevent blood cloths) and shaved the area where the surgery would take place. At some point another lady came and gave me a diazepam pill which made me really calm. When my time came to do the surgery I was relaxed and I think I stayed like 1 minute on the surgery table awake before going to sleep, that's all I can remember from the surgery room.
I woke up I think an hour after and everything was smooth, no nausea, no fainting, no nothing. Everything was really good, except the pain which was normal after the surgery! I think that I stayed two more hours after the surgery then a taxi driver came to take me back to the hotel. The pain is moderate I would say for the first day or two, it hurt the most when changing position like getting out of bed and vice-versa. After the second day I didn't take any pain killers therefore I can say that the first day is the hardest. Of course, there is a bearable pain for a period of time when you move but I would say that after 4 days I was able to move pretty good.
I've stayed in the hotel for 4 days and Dr Koch came twice a day each day to visit me and check the surgery. He is truly a nice doctor and devoted to his work. I would recommend him 100% and without hesitation I would go back to him for a second hernia surgery if I ever have it again.
All in all the experience with BioHernia, Nahom and Dr Koch was awesome, I am now one month after the surgery and I rarely feel something there. I can bike around, run, I carry everything around here so things went back to normal. I waited 4 freakin' years to have this hernia done and now I'm more than happy that I've done it without the mesh. I can go snowboarding again!

I was initially going to have in August 2021, but for several reasons+ pandemic situation it did not happen until March 2022. My indirect inguinal hernia was discovered in February 2021 and I was initially going to have a surgery in Norway with mesh, but this was before I did some reading! Being a fairly young woman I understood that doing a non-mesh surgery would be a better option. No hospital or clinic I found in Norway do this, so then I started searching and found Biohernia.

The experience with Biohernia as a company and mediator between myself and the doctor, Dr. Koch, has felt very safe and informative, they have been receptive to all kinds of questions. Just a little waiting in busy periods, though always answered. Secondly, arriving in Cottbus for having a surgery with Dr. Koch was a very safe experience. I came the day before, was checked, told about the surgery, recovery and what to expect. He also checked on me everyday while I was recovering at Sorat Hotel until he said I was good to go. I had surgery Wednesday, on Friday I went to Berlin, Saturday I was a tourist taking it slow and easy. I have been careful in the recovery period but now I am all good a month after, feeling no issues, can run, train and all. I think focusing on stretching and movement in the recovery period is beneficial.

So I am very happy and confident with this choice and can recommend it to others as well. The only thing is that Cottbus is not the most exciting place, at least not in March ;-D

I had my op on 12th Jan 2022. I'm 23 years old and discovered I had a small inguinal hernia around October 2021, had an ultrasound on the NHS and confirmed that although very small, it was a hernia. Even though it was small there was still quite a bump compared to the rest of my abdomen, and the doctor actually suggested just leaving it be until it got worse and then they would operate, with mesh. -- also said I probably shouldn't go to the gym in the meantime.

Having done my research and found that there were a few cases of complications from mesh, and being 23 I wasn't too keen on having a foreign object in my body for the rest of my life, so I was happy to find there are alternatives. I had my online consultation with Dr Koch and Nahom, all good and was happy to book in for the surgery to take place in Cottbus.

I went with my sister, and we traveled to Berlin first and then got the train over to Cottbus and stayed in the Sorat Hotel. The in-person consultation went great, advice for others is that there is a tram outside of the train station that takes you right outside the hospital which is useful.

On surgery day I woke up early and went downstairs with another guy around the same age, from the Netherlands who was getting an umbilical hernia fixed. We were driven to the hospital and were taken to a room to get ready. It was quite nice actually having someone else there about to go through a similar thing, he was there from a friend recommendation who had had an inguinal surgery fixed so it also made me feel better too.

Pre-op was super easy. The nurses are really nice and it does really show that it's very much a routine surgery that they do. The needle getting put in for the anesthetic didn't hurt at all. Then you'll move to the operating bed and get put to sleep pretty quickly. Then like that you'll wake up with it all done :) A little dazed, you'll get dressed and get driven back to the hotel.

The first night was actually a bit more difficult for me, and was probably the worst night in terms of pain. I did have a bad headache coming off the anesthetic which probably didn't help. But, once I managed to get to sleep and woke up in the morning I definitely felt not as much in pain as the day before. It was still sore to move though.

I had some swelling in my groin which made the area more sensitive so I just had to be a bit more careful moving around. I managed to do a bit more walking but otherwise rested up in bed.

The next few days the pain gradually started going away and I could move more freely as the days went on. The massage was really really good, definitely just pay the money for it because I felt it was worth it - and the guy was super nice.

Hotel was really good, the staff were nice and the breakfast was great too. Wifi was okay -- managed to binge all of Harry Potter from German Netflix with my sister. There are some really nice restaurants nearby too, we went to an american themed one around the corner which was nice - and loads of little coffee shops. Theres also a Pizza Hut that delivers... I got the pasta to be a bit healthier which was a lot better than I'd expected.

Pain was getting better, and I was replacing the bandage every day.

We then headed back to Berlin on Saturday for one final day and then flew back Sunday. Dr Koch visited the hotel every day I was there and very helpful with all of my questions and very reassuring. You can tell he's very clued up and knows what he's doing. I was able to text him on Whatsapp with any concerns too and he was always fast to reply.

It's now almost 7 weeks since I had the surgery, the surgical line is a fine cut which he did very well, and it's healing good too. I've just bought some bio oil that I put over it at night to help the colour heal.

No pain whatsoever anymore and feel like I can do everything I did before the hernia.

Overall I would recommend Dr Koch and BioHernia to any friend of family that get diagnosed with a hernia. It's a bit tedious having to travel all the way to Cottbus for it but if you want it done properly and invest in your own body I think it's the best idea. You'll only be away a week and recovery is fast after that.

My advice:
- bring your laptop / iPad so you can watch a load of movies in bed when you're recovering :)
- Try to move more each day, theres some really nice sights to see. Or just go to H&M at least and stretch your legs and buy some comfy joggers.
- For me, the recovery straight after the surgery was the hardest, but it does get easier and easier.

I thought I'd take the time to write this review as these helped inform me of my own decision to get surgery with BioHernia and also helped prepare me for what was coming, so I hope you get some benefit from this! 5/5 stars, back to normal again and can go to the gym :)

After being diagnosed with an inguinal hernia I looked for a specialist who would not use mesh which is the way to treat this problem in the UK and The Netherlands where I live. My internet search for non-mesh surgery led me to BioHernia. Nahom was very helpful from the start and arranged a zoom consultation with Dr. Andreas Koch in Cottbus. However, as we now live mostly in The Netherlands we spoke to Dr. Martin Wiese in Kelkheim/Frankfurt (3 hours drive instead of 6 hours to Cottbus) and after a reassuring telecon with Dr. Wiese and some follow up e-mails we opted to have the operation at his Gesundheitszentrum. Nahom arranged everything including the hotel booking (Hotel Arkaden is right opposite the clinic and the team made us feel very comfortable during our stay - I suggest to book the Familienzimmer which is larger and has a small fridge plus we got a coffeemaker). Dr. Wiese’s optimistic manner helped myself and my partner feel relaxed and confident about choosing the non-mesh ‘Shouldice’ method. The operation worked well and it was easy to converse with clinic staff (a special thanks to Janine and her team) - Dr Wiese also speaks excellent English. All in all - it was a very good experience and I recommend BioHernia and Dr. Wiese plus his hernia clinic in Kelkheim if you have an inguinal hernia and want a non-mesh solution.

The previous reviews say it all, which I endorse fully – from the UK. On the Friday I was diagnosed by my GP, and over the w/e I spoke to my brother who had seen Dr Wiese a year earlier for a completely successful operation for the same condition. He had researched how some patients who had hernia repairs with ‘mesh’ had had very severe (chronic) post-op consequences, unlike the traditional ‘Shouldice’ method, which repairs without using mesh – and which Dr Wiese is a leading expert with deep experience, and very happy patients from all over the world.
3 days later on Monday, I rang the one and only Nahon – Bio-Hernias’s patients contact hub – through whose professional efficiency and competence (thank you), enabled me to fly off to Frankfurt on Wednesday and meet Dr Wiese, for an operation the next day – i.e. inside one week from diagnosis. I had been in real pain, which anyone with a hernia will identify with, so to have the operation in a week, when our ‘NHS’ had a waiting list of 1 to 2 years, and alternatively if operated on ‘privately’ in the UK, it would have still taken 6 weeks (and with both services only doing ‘mesh’) - was indeed an answer to prayer.
As other reviews testify too, after the op, you walk back to your hotel (very warm, personal and accommodating), and then keep on walking each day thereafter to facilitate full recovery. I flew back on the Sunday. My op is now 11 days ago, with no pain and walking quite normally. With Dr Wiese’s blessing, I look forward to start playing tennis again in the next fortnight.
Another very grateful patient, with no hesitation at all in recommending Dr Wiese and his wonderful team, who give such a first class international medical service – thank you very much.

Efficient, skylled and nice

I was operated in October for my fermoral hernia by Doctor Koch in Cottbus.
Everything was perfectly organized and Doctor Koch came to the hotel twice a day for check-ups.
The recovery was a bit tougher than I expected, but now after two months it is going super well.
I am very happy that I chose this operation at BioHernia.