“A 58-year-old morbidly obese woman presents to the clinic for routine follow-up after an open ventral hernia repair with mesh 2 weeks prior. The hernia occurred after a motor vehicle collision, resulting in a traumatic ventral her­nia and a large abdominal laceration, both of which were repaired during her operation 2 weeks ago. She has had increasing erythema around her incision the last few days. On exam, there are erythema, tenderness to palpation, and uctuance at the incision with staples still in place.” If pre­sented in clinic, attempt opening of the incision in clinic with removal of staples. Inquire about the kind of mesh used (per­manent or absorbable), as this will dictate management. The mesh may ultimately need to be removed as part of source control if the infection is determined to involve the mesh and the mesh is of permanent material. Timing will be deter­mined by proximity to the most recent operation, patient pre­operative optimization, and overall current illness severity. If the patient is between 10 days and 2 months postoperative and otherwise clinically stable and healthy, it may be advis­able to temporize the wound infection to allow for intra­abdominal inammatory processes to subside prior to mesh removal and abdominal wall reconstruction. For acutely ill patients, operative intervention may be required sooner.