Well, I had three steroid injections for a disc problem that didn't go away. I've tried acupuncture, exercise, and massage therapy with no success. If I have surgery, what would they do?
Most likely you would have a microdiscectomy or disc removal. There are many ways to do this operation. You will have to talk to your surgeon about which procedure is best for you.
Most discectomies done today are noninvasive. This means instead of an open incision, the operation is done with tiny incisions. Sometimes there's just a puncture in the skin where the instrument enters the body.
The disc can be destroyed with laser or just removed using surgical instruments. Sometimes the entire disc is taken out. In other cases, just the protruding or fragments of disc are removed.
Many patients experience quick relief from their symptoms after microdiscectomy. There is very little scar tissue and that helps prevent chronic pain. Results may depend on how long the symptoms have been present. The type of surgery performed may make a difference but not enough studies have been done to prove this.
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