Hernia Repair (inguinal) if you've had a Penile-implant before

[London lad]

Hi all. I had a first Penile-implant in 2018 (Coloplast Titan). Root cause for that was lifelong Congenital Downward Curvature and Erectile Dysfunction. On the whole, I'm satisfied with it, and the Andrologists are happy with how it's looking based on recent consultations.

But I've recently (1 or 2 years ago) developed a right-sided Inguinal Hernia, which happens to be located at almost the exact same spot as the reservoir of my Penile-implant. I attach photo of it (the lump you see circled is the hernia).

The hernia has grown in size (which as you'll also see in the photo, means that it has even swollen inside the entire testicle area on the RHS). And it's consequently become a lot more painful.

So it's reached a point where I really have to get this Inguinal-Hernia Repair (or Inguinal Hernioplasty as it's otherwise known). I'm scheduled for it this week. I've been told it will be Open Surgery (as opposed to Keyhole), under General Anaesthetic. Here in the UK, hernia-repairs are usually done by a Hospital's General-Surgery department. But my Andrologist doctor (who is the same doctor who did my 2018 Penile-implant) said that for patients who already have a Penile-implant, it's better that Andrology do it to minimise risk of accidental damage to the Penile-implant during the Hernia-repair (specifically to reduce risk the tubing leading to the reservoir getting cut). So I'm scheduled to have this surgery done by Andrology this week.

So I'd really appreciate to hear from if you've had a Hernia repair after having had a Penile-implant before. Specifically I have the following questions:

(1) Do you have any tips or recommendations going into/recovering from this operation? Especially am eager to avoid any sort of damage getting done to the implant during the course of this surgery.

(2) How painful did you find it? Does the existence of a Penile-implant make a Hernia-repair any more painful?

(3) Related to the above question, did you need a narcotic Painkiller post-surgery (such as Morphine), or did you get by just on standard Paracetamol/Ibuprofen? (I cannot take more Morphine btw due to intolerence, so for me it would need to be Codeine for me).

(4) Post surgery, is it better to keep the Penile-implant inflated or deflated? (Or maybe it doesn't matter?)

(5) Is your Penile-implant functioning as well as before the Hernia-repair? Any risks I need to look out for?