Patients self-recorded their average level of pain on a scale from 1 to 10 for each post-surgery day beginning on postoperative day 2. They also recorded the number of pain pills they took each day. On the same sheet used to record medication usage, patients were instructed to record each day whether they were able to wear the brace or if they experienced problems. At their 1 month postoperative visit the incision was inspected and palpated by the first or senior author for the presence of fascial dehiscence and its occurrence was recorded.