What's the failure rate for spine surgery for disc herniation?

Pain: If by failure you mean what is the chance you will still have pain -50%. If the disc is causing loss of sensation or strength then the chances are somewhat better of aiding it. Back surgery for pain has abysmal results. Wt loss, strengthening your abs without laying on your back and glucosamine have at least as good of results if not better.

Less than 10%*: If non smoker & 1st time scenario, success rate 90% . If smoker, failure rate 3 to 8 times > than a non smoker. If the pain is more back pain than leg pain, it is also less successful & if more than one level involved, success is less. Underlying issues like diabetes & obesity affect success as does preop conditioning in terms of how in shape you are preop. The surgeon's skill also factor.

Depends: It really depends what you mean by that. The likelihood that you could have a disc herniation successfully removed without complication in the neck or back is probably greater than 95 percent. But what some people mean by failure is if they ever have pain again in their neck or back, which varies considerably and is certainly much lower success rate. Thank you for the question.