U First Health/Desarda Hernia Center, USA

If you value your long term health, happiness and family, my advice is avoid this place at all costs.

First, do your research on this technique. Specifically ask other actual hernia surgeons what they think of this technique. They will tell you. You might be surprised as I was. Ask yourself why no one else does them here. Don't believe the "because there's only one Dr ***" line you might hear, as I did. (as an example of how they operate, I posted a similar review on their FB page and they since have found a "Dr" a former chiropractor that sells "nutraceuticals" to write up a "doctor testimonial", which is nothing more than a marketing-talk article written on the Dr's (cough cough) own affiliate marketing web site with a link to the Desarda site).

If you visit them, ask them about all the potential side effects / complications. They will have to tell you. I'd record what they say since actually, they may not tell you more on that below. I so wish I had pressed on that I would never have done this. "No mesh" does not mean "no problem" or less invasive, and potential complications were never discussed, at all. Even when I asked about a specific issue I had which I was worried about, no discussion about any possibilities, whatsoever occurred. Be sure to discuss it. And again I'd record it and if you sign anything regarding consent you better know all the facts.

They are error prone based on other reviews I see, and as my experience confirms. Their EKG machine wasn't up to par or working to take one before anesthesia. I've seen other reviews saying the same thing. Along with incorrect paperwork being handed to patients. They did not even know I was there for surgery the day of my surgery.

In my medical records, which took forever to finally get (more on that below), they incorrectly diagnosed my hernia type. A big mistake even before they started. Likely because Dr *** never actually felt to see where my hernia was or what kind it was. They never discussed watching and waiting, which I learned later for my type would have been the correct way to proceed a small, indirect hernia, with some manageable discomfort. A far cry from where I am now.

Aftercare In my view, it was negligent to the extreme. But you decide.
The night before I was to fly back, I felt a very strange sensation occur very rapidly, after taking a shower, in my testicles and groin. Not a good feeling at all. I emailed my "salesperson", who was my only point of contact, to see if I should cancel my flight and come in for safety's sake, since I was still there. She emailed back no, all is good, even though I explained on the phone after I emailed that it felt like fish were swimming in my groin. I did not even know if she is a nurse thinking about it later, though I doubt it. Either way I was there and should have been asked to come back for a quick check.

It turns out I had a recurrence. And eventually a lot more. More on that later. It may not be possible to say exactly when the recurrence happened, but it seems pretty likely it happened that day. I never was right after that moment.

I slowly felt a little better, as some things settled down, after about 8 weeks, but still not right and I mentioned the issues I had on a call. I asked if suture was still present that could be causing my issues. I was told they were all dissolved by now. Remember this.
I also asked *manytimes about a mound of fat I noticed over the area, which was under the incision. That's a sign of a hernia and they would of course know this. My question was completely, 100%, ignored, every time I asked. I even offered to send a photo. Crickets.

My contact also knew I had a planned trip to Hong Kong for a trade show appx 12 weeks after I would have surgery, and she would know that this procedure is destructive to your tissues relative to many other techniques, and takes a good time to heal. In other words best to not do a lot, for a good while. Would that be good for marketing? "No mesh" - "no problem". Marketing is an amazing thing. But do research and you'll see clinical research not supporting any difference between mesh and no mesh approaches and chronic pain.

My contact said it would be ok to go to HK instead of suggesting the far safer approach of simply waiting til I got back. I'll leave it to others to guess the motivation for getting me down so determinedly, and just add that she called me often to try and schedule me in. I thought that was weird and awkward, like a car salesman, and I should have taken more note of it. Other clinics I know of do not call to prod you to buy their surgery. I believed I'd be ok, never having had a hernia surgery before, and hearing it'd be ok. So I went.

I emailed my contact again 14 weeks post op, appx 2 weeks after my return from HK, saying that I was having even more issues than before. I was wondering if suture could possibly be an issue even though I was told they were all gone. My message was forwarded to to another employee, and apparently my contact didn't realize she left her original message to him in the forward to him, which said "I know you will have great finesse in your response...".

His "finessed" response actually included "no matter what you do, the healing process will take place...", wait for the area to flatten... and "Yes, beyond 90 days the sutures begin to dissolve ", it's marvelous how it happens... etc etc. Professional? And no questions for me. And now, this person said oh, actually, the suture were still in there. I was told the opposite, a good 6 weeks earlier. I would not have walked around in a trade show etc in HK if I knew this.

This person, an assistant to Dr ***, was also in the position to know that the area would have already flattened by this time yet, he said to... wait for it to flatten. Never asked me to come down for a followup, no concern expressed. I later learned that at a 3 month mark, if problems exist, you need to really take that seriously.
Some time later I went on a 2 mile hike. I emailed again that I could not even take a shower without holding my testicles for support out of pain, and there simply must be a real problem. So now I received a call from Dr ***. And without seeing the patient, he decided to "guarantee" me I had no recurrence. Literally said that I guarantee you you do not have a recurrence. Without ever seeing me. Think long and hard about trusting these people with your life and health.

And boy, I did have a recurrence. Not only that, I developed a large incisional hernia, and my abdominal wall was in an inverted U shape.

In desperation locally to get help, I requested my medical records, and was ignored or told various reasons as to what the process was to get them for weeks. Miraculously I got them the very next day after the night I emailed that my next request would be CC'd to the FL Medical Board.

I had to have an emergency surgery. I am in a lot of pain, still. Can't even take even medium walks and no going up hills at all.

Again aside from the lessons of the "aftercare" I experienced and major damage from floundering, just do your research on this technique itself. Specifically ask other hernia surgeons what they think of this technique, they will tell you. Ask yourself why no one else does them here. There is a reason. And FL has medical liability limited to 500K. Good for who, ask yourself.

They specialize in one repair technique, Desarda, no matter what your situation would actually be best served by. They are a hammer you are a nail. If you choose this unprofessional profit driven clinic, I hope you don't need aftercare.

There are MANY surgeons and techniques that are mesh free that may far better serve you, and are far less invasive, and far more professional. It is your life. No mesh does not mean less invasive, or no problems. Remember that. I would never suggest anyone get near this place and wish to God every day that I never did. I will be happy to give more info. As others have noted on other review sites and on their FB page, they are salespeople and profit driven, not patient. Something this serious requires an up-to-date, professional, organized, patient driven approach. Best advise? Run, don't walk, from this place.

Be very careful of this man. I went to ufirst for mesh removal. His office staff sent out information about absorbable sutures and no tension repair. I stressed to the dr I did not want permanent sutures-multiple times. When I woke up and reviewed my operative report to my horror its exactly what he did. He advertises the inguinal and passed it off as abdominal. He also made a much larger cut than ever required. Not only was my condition made worse but this will require me to be in permanent need should something go wrong. I am beyond upset. This is unethical-how could you Dr T.

I needed an emergency surgery to repair a umbilical hernia. I did not want mesh so researched a lot. I found two surgeons in the US doing no mesh, and only one doing it without inserting anything - Dr Thomas. I flew to Florida from TX and stayed there for a week. It is now almost 2 years after the surgery (I got it in April 2017) and I feel I can now give a good review. A friend of mine got a similar repair in France at about the same time, and the repair did not hold - she has to go under the knife again and this time with mesh. Mine held perfectly and I am heavier than she is ! I only have good things to say. The first contacts with the staff were good. After I sent my paperwork in, I got an estimate for my surgery (which required the use of an external facility due to my weight...) and although it was more expensive than I thought, I still went for it because the no mesh was a must have for me. Consultation was good. I loved that they handed me some homeopathy to help with pain. They gave me detailed and extensive post-op instructions that I followed to the T, even though it was inconvenient (who wants to wear an abdominal binder on the beach or an ice pack at night...). I was able to fly back home within a few days and go on my scheduled vacation (even though the surgery only happened a few weeks before). Really happy. No complications. Recommend.

My husband needed surgery to repair both inguinal and umbilical hernias. After much research, he decided to have the "no mesh " Desarda procedure offered by Dr. T.. We flew from Pennsylvania to Fort Myers, Florida on a Tuesday, had his consultation on Thursday that week, had the surgeries on Friday, post-op on Monday and flew back to Pa. on Tuesday. Other than a short bout of constipation he has done perfectly well! We feel that the excellent surgical skills along following the instructions...completely, gave us the result we were hoping for! We are so impressed with the communication and kindness of all the staff as well. We investigated another facility that does a similar procedure and is much closer to our home but they hardly gave us the time of day and were vague with answers to our questions. YIKES! We give this, U First Health
facility, surgeon and staff a great big "thumbs up"!

re my inguinal hernia operation in 2017: I would say no mesh should be preferred. there are about 3-4 doctors/institutions that do this that I know of and this doctor is one of them. there is shouldice, a hospital in korea, and a kevin p. of las vegas (p. only takes/specializes in people without insurance) they all have a reoccurrence rate of less than 1%. this operation the desodora has been very well reviewed and tested over time. it is hard to argue with 2k operations and a less than 1% reoccurence rate. I have had some disagreements with dr t. but not with the price and the result which after 6 weeks has been good. I did not think he should have pressured me to use antibiotics when WHO said it was not necessary for an inguinal. his wife is a doctor also and she uses the essure birth control system in a separate part of their medical business. even though this had nothing to do with my operation its not a good idea to use medically questionable device such as this. this doctors staff was good especially enthusiastic b.////if you want to go with mesh make sure the doctor is using a type that has not been extensively involved in lawsuits. there is a clinic/hospital in california where all the doctors do nothing but mesh which would probably be a good bet for that reason- and I did read of a doctor in chicago who did mesh with a less than 1% reoccurrence rate. I think no mesh is still the best. keep in mind i'm not a doctor when you read this.

I am from Ocala FL and developed an umbilical hernia about two years ago. I did research on the internet and came across U First Health doing hernia repair without mesh. This interested me, having an older brother with an inguinal repaired with mesh 3 times working on #4. Also reading negative publicity of mesh company lawsuits I knew I did NOT want Mesh in my body. Just Say NO to Mesh.
Dr. Robert T. is the only Surgeon in the US that is Certified by Dr. D. from India to use the Desarda technique having a return rate of

Hi,
My name is ***, and I'm here today to discuss the great experience my wife and I had in dealing with my not so great injury of an Inguinal Hernia that I suffered about 7 weeks ago.
I want to talk about my successful Inguinal Hernia surgery employing the "Desarda No Mesh Technique" which was performed on me by Dr. Robert T. and his excellent Team at U First Health in Fort Myers, Florida, who collectively have successfully pioneered the use of this unique and excellent treatment here in the USA.

Today is Day 7 since my surgery, and as you can see, I am doing very well, up and moving about with minimal pain. Over the years Dr. T. and his Team have refined their Post-Op Pain Management protocol, resulting in minimal post-op pain issues for me.

During the 5 week period from when I first noticed symptoms of this Inguinal Hernia to my initial call to BJ at U First Health, I did fairly extensive internet research on the subject of Inguinal Hernia and the various surgical treatment methods available today.

My firm conclusion and decision for myself from this study was:
1) I did NOT want a foreign material such as mesh placed into my body, and
2) The "Desarda No Mesh Technique" developed by Dr. Desarda of India, and practiced by Dr. Robert T., who has performed over 2,000 Hernia repairs during the last 8 years, would give me:

The best probability for the best possible outcome of full functional recovery of
my active lifestyle, including resistance training and cardio workouts at the gym,
along with minimal probability of recurrence of this Hernial injury.

From my first contact over the phone with BJ at U First Health, to my diagnosis, lab work, and pre-op appointment with Dr. T. himself, thru my surgery and post-op, as well as excellent pain management, both my wife and I were treated with dignity and respect, by each and every member of Dr. T.'s Team, all of whom demonstrated the utmost care and genuine concern for my medical condition and needs. During our Pre-Op discussion, Dr. T.'s quiet confidence dispelled any remaining anxiety either my wife or I had,
and at that point we knew that we had made the right decision to fly across the country for this surgery.

In summary, I would like to express my opinion and my recommendation to anyone who has suffered the injury of an Inguinal Hernia:

1) Do not let anyone talk you into settling for a surgical procedure for an Inguinal Hernia that involves placing a foreign material mesh into your body, and
2) Before you make a decision regarding your best treatment alternative for an Inguinal Hernia, check out the excellent and informative website at www.UFirstHealth.com, and consider the treatment option offered by Dr. Robert T. and his excellent Team.
My wife and I are so glad we did.

Finally both my wife and I would like to say thank you and farewell to you Dr. T., and to each member of your wonderful team. Though our encounter was quite short, my wife and I consider you, and each and every member of your Team, to be lifelong friends who were there for us in our hour of need. We are so thankful and grateful for all of you, and thankful to the God of Heaven and Earth who we believe ordered our steps throughout this process. May God continue to bless the work of your skillful hands at U First Health.