what happens when you have a hernia
Over time, hernias tend to increase in size as the abdominal muscle wall becomes weaker and more tissue bulges through. If you can't push your hernia back into your belly, it is incarcerated. A hernia gets incarcerated when tissue moves into the sac of the hernia and fills it up. This is not necessarily an emergency.
But if a loop of the intestine is trapped very tightly in the hernia, the blood supply to that part of the intestine can be cut off (strangulated), causing tissue to die. In a man, if tissue is trapped, the testicle and its blood vessels can also be damaged.
A hernia that cannot be pushed back can be repaired when surgery is convenient unless you have increased pain, redness of the overlying skin, fever, nausea and vomiting, or abdominal bloating. If any of these symptoms occur, the hernia may need to be fixed sooner. Inguinal hernias can come back after surgical repair.