Version July 2025
| Repair | Type | Description | Recurrence rate | Comments |
| Lichtenstein | Mesh repair | Flat mesh placed anterior to the transversalis fascia | <1% to 5% | Most studied technique for open inguinal hernia repair |
| Preperitoneal | Mesh repair | Flat mesh placed posterior to the transversalis fascia (eg, Nyhus, Rives-Stoppa, Read, Wants, Kugel repairs) | <1% to 4% | Posterior repair recommended for femoral hernias |
| Plug and patch | Mesh repair | Mesh plug placed through the defect; flat mesh placed anterior to the transversalis fascia | 4% | Plugs can migrate or cause chronic pain |
| Bilayer | Mesh repair | Two-layer meshes placed anterior and posterior to the transversalis fascia | <1% to 3% | A flat mesh in a single plane is the preferred mesh repair |
| Shouldice | Nonmesh repair | Four-layer overlapping reconstruction using continuous fine wire sutures | <1% to 7% | The best evaluated and best standardized nonmesh repair, has lowest recurrence rate of all nonmesh repairs |
| Desarda | Nonmesh repair | Use a flap of the external oblique muscle aponeurosis to "patch" the defect | 1.4% to 4.2% | Favorable preliminary results but lacking high-quality long-term data |
| Bassini | Nonmesh repair | Suturing the conjoined tendon to the inguinal ligament | 5% to 15% | |
| McVay | Nonmesh repair | Suturing the conjoined tendon to the Cooper's ligament and inguinal ligament, with a relaxing incision of the anterior rectus sheath | 5% to 15% | The only nonmesh repair for femoral hernias |
