How might treating a recurrent inguinal hernia differ from treating a first hernia? are there specialist for treating recurrent hernias?

Slightly different: First time , repair is done by a standard type repair using one of the acceptable technique , repair of repair is custom tailored , depends on findings also same type of surgeon , will do recurrent hernia repairs.

Alternate approach: Any hernia can recur. Open and laparoscopic repairs of groin hernias have about a 1% recurrence rate, and umbilical hernia with graft supplement have about a 0.3% rate. Now, in groin hernias, when recurrent , if done open the first time, a laparoscopic approach is preferred in the rerepair, and vice-versa.There are surgeons who have more experience with complex and recurrent hernias. Good luck.