Anal fissure surgery

Payam Rasouli The Author of Medical and Health Content
July 28, 2019
2023-09-27 14:29:49

Anal Fissure Surgery

What is an Anal Fissure?

Is surgery necessary for fissure?

An anal fissure is a small tear in the thin, moist tissue (mucosa) that lines the anus. An anal fissure may occur when you pass hard or large stools during a bowel movement. Anal fissures typically cause pain and bleeding with bowel movements. You also may experience spasms in the ring of muscle at the end of your anus (anal sphincter).

An anal fissure usually isn’t a serious condition. It can affect people of all ages, and it’s often seen in infants and young children since constipation is a common problem in these age groups. In fact, it’s thought that around one in 10 people get one at some point in their life. Anyone can get an anal fissure, including children, but it’s most common in people aged 15 to 40.

Most anal fissures heal with home treatment after a few days or weeks. These are called short-term (acute) anal fissures. If you have an anal fissure that hasn’t healed after 8 to 12 weeks, it is considered a long-term (chronic) fissure. A chronic fissure may need medical treatment.

Read more about : Stages of fissure healing

About Iranian Surgery

Iranian surgery is an online medical tourism platform where you can find the best Surgeons and hospitals to treat your anal fissure in Iran. The price of treating an anal fissure in Iran can vary according to each individual’s case and will be determined by the type of anal fissure treatment you undergo and an in-person assessment with the doctor. So if you are looking for the cost of anal fissure treatment in Iran, you can contact us and get free consultation from Iranian surgery.

Before Anal Fissure Surgery

Causes of anal fissure

For most people who develop an anal fissure, there isn’t any obvious reason why. It’s usually thought to happen if your anal canal has been damaged though, often as a result of a hard or painful bowel movement. As a result, the muscles around your anus (the internal sphincter muscles) spasm and tense up. This reduces the blood supply to the area, which stops the tear from healing properly. Having further hard bowel movements can then make the fissure come back, or get worse.

Sometimes, there is a clear underlying reason why you may develop an anal fissure. These may include the following:

. Straining when you go to the toilet due to constipation.

. Being pregnant or giving birth – this can put pressure on your perineum (the area between your anus and vulva).

. Having an inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn’s disease.

. Having a sexually transmitted infection or a skin infection.

. Having a condition that affects your skin, such as psoriasis.

. Taking certain medicines, such as painkillers containing opioids, or having chemotherapy.

. Having had trauma to your anus, for example, through having anal sex or through surgery.

. Having bowel cancer.

Prevention of anal fissure

You can reduce your risk of developing an anal fissure by preventing constipation. This is really important if you’ve already had an anal fissure, as it can help to stop it coming back. You can help to prevent constipation by making sure you have a healthy balanced diet that contains plenty of fibre, drinking enough fluids and exercising regularly.

If you have another health condition that increases your risk of getting an anal fissure, speak to your doctor. They will talk you through how to best manage your condition and reduce your risk of getting an anal fissure.

Read more about : Colorectal Cancer Treatment

Read more about : Hemorrhoidectomy Surgery

During Anal Fissure Surgery

Treatment of anal fissure

Most anal fissures heal by themselves within six to eight weeks. There are a number of things you can do to help it heal, and relieve your pain and discomfort. These include the following:

. Gradually increase the fibre in your diet, by including plenty of wholegrain foods, fruit and vegetables. This will help keep faeces soft and easier to pass.

. Make sure you’re drinking enough fluids, especially if you’re increasing your fibre intake.

. Keep the area clean and dry, to prevent infection.

. Go to the toilet as soon as you have the sensation of needing a bowel movement, and try not to strain when you go. ‘Holding on’ when you need to pass faeces and straining can make a fissure worse.

. Try sitting in a warm bath to relieve any pain, particularly after you’ve had a bowel movement.

If your pain is particularly severe, or your symptoms aren’t improving, there are a number of treatments you can try.

Medicines

The following medicines can help to relieve pain associated with an anal fissure, or help it to heal.

. Laxatives or stool softeners, such as ispaghula husk or lactulose. These work by softening your faeces, making them easier to pass. You can buy them over the counter from a pharmacist without a prescription. It’s best to get advice from your pharmacist or GP first though.

. Over-the-counter painkillers, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen. These can help with the pain of an anal fissure. You can buy these from a pharmacy or supermarket without a prescription. Make sure you read the patient information leaflet in the packet.

. Anaesthetic ointment (e.g. lidocaine). Your GP may prescribe this for a few days if you’ve been having extreme pain when you pass faeces. You apply this ointment to your anus to help numb the area before you have a bowel movement.

. Glyceryl trinitrate (GTN). This is an ointment that helps your internal sphincter muscle to relax. It improves blood flow to your anal area, helping the fissure to heal. Your GP may prescribe this if you’ve had a fissure for over a week, and other measures don’t seem to be helping. You’ll need to use it for six to eight weeks.

. Calcium-channel blockers (e.g. diltiazem cream). Like GTN ointment, this medicine relaxes the muscles in your anus and improves blood flow to the area. It’s associated with fewer side-effects than GTN ointment. In some areas, your GP may need to refer you to a colorectal surgeon to get a prescription for this medicine.

Procedures to treat anal fissure

If other treatment options haven’t helped your anal fissure to heal, or it keeps coming back, your GP may refer you to a colorectal surgeon. Your surgeon will talk to you about what other options they may recommend for treating your anal fissure. These may include the following.

. Botulinum toxin (Botox) injections. In this procedure, your surgeon will apply the injection directly into your internal sphincter muscle. The aim is to temporarily relax this muscle so that your fissure can heal.

. Fissurectomy. This involves cutting away the damaged skin from around your anal fissure, along with any ‘sentinel’ skin tags (lumps of skin associated with the fissure). Your surgeon may suggest you have this alongside Botox injections.

. Lateral internal sphincterotomy. This is a type of surgery that involves cutting the sphincter muscles around your anus, to release the tension and let your fissure heal. Your doctor will usually only suggest this after you’ve tried other treatments first, including Botox.

. Anal advancement flaps. This involves taking healthy skin from your anal lining and using it to replace the broken skin in your fissure. You may have it at the same time as a sphincterotomy, or afterwards if your fissure still doesn’t heal.

After Anal Fissure Surgery

Recovering from Anal Fissure Surgery

It is important to note that complete healing with both medical and surgical treatments can take up to approximately 6-10 weeks. However, acute pain after surgery often disappears after a few days. Most patients will be able to return to work and resume daily activities in a few short days after the surgery.

We recommend the following as the best way to recover from anal fissure surgery:

The most important thing you can do to facilitate your recovery is to keep your bowels soft and moving and avoid constipation at all costs. Most of the pain and discomfort that people have after this kind of surgery is related to bowel movements.
In the week prior to the surgery begin taking stool softeners such as Colace or Docusate and adding a fiber supplement to your daily routine such as Benefiber, Citrucel, Metamucil or a similar product. The goal is to have soft but formed stools.
Stay well hydrated and drink lots of fluids including juices and Gatorade. Your colon helps to maintain water balance in your body and if you get dehydrated this can cause constipation and hard stools.
You must continue to eat. Fasting to avoid having bowel movements does not work well as people find they end up feeling constipated after a few days and then strain to go to the bathroom, which is painful and can lead to fissures.
Eat a regular diet and avoid foods that are constipating; only you as an individual know what those foods are. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid excessively hot and spicy foods that might burn on the way out.
As mentioned, most of the discomfort and pain that people experience is related to bowel movements and is directly due to spasm or cramping of the sphincter muscle, which is irritated because of the raw areas that were burned. The best way to get immediate pain relief is to soak in hot water immersing your pelvis as opposed to just taking a “sitz bath” while sitting on the toilet. We recommend that you soak 6 to 8 times per day. Immediately after a bowel movement, you should soak. Soaking helps people to heal better and more quickly, often provides immediate relief of anal pain even when pain medications aren’t helping, improves the blood supply to the area, and keeps it clean.
Soak in hot water 6 to 8 times per day.
Pain control is very important. Be sure to discuss this with your health care provider and let them know what medications work best for you. If you can take medications like ibuprofen or Advil or naprosyn or Aleve, these can be very helpful in decreasing the pain and inflammation and you should take them around the clock when you are not taking your other pain medication. They are also not constipating.
Usually we prescribe extra strength Vicodin or hydrocodone, also known as Lortab, but some people require Percocet or oxycodone. It’s important to realize that all of these pain medications contain acetaminophen or Tylenol and that patients should not take more than 4 grams per day, otherwise liver toxicity can occur. This translates to no more than eight (8) 500 mg tablets in a day. Patients with underlying liver disease such as chronic hepatitis should probably stay below this dose. Do not take extra Tylenol with these pain medications, but you can take Advil or Aleve.
All pain medications containing narcotics are constipating, so if you find that you are requiring a lot of pain pills, then you may need to take more fiber or stool softeners. Again, the goal is to avoid constipation at all costs. If you haven’t had a bowel movement in 2 or 3 days, then consider taking a laxative such as milk of magnesia.
We also recommend that you apply topical numbing jelly to help ease the pain and decrease the need for narcotics, which can be done every 2 hours as needed. The most potent is called 5% anorectal lidocaine cream, or L.M.X.5, which can be purchased over the counter and does not require a prescription.
Unless patients have an allergy to sulfa drugs, they are sent home with a tube of Silvadene cream. This can be applied after bathing and is used to help decrease symptoms, because it is used for burn patients. If you find you would rather put the numbing jelly on and are not getting any relief from the Silvadene, then it’s OK not to use it. Some people find as time passes after surgery that they begin to heal but still have external wounds that are slow to heal. In this case sometimes applying Desitin or zinc oxide ointment can be helpful.
It is normal to have bleeding and oozing after surgery and often it occurs with bowel movements. Do not be frightened about this and realize that just a few drops of blood will turn the toilet bowel red. If you are continuously passing blood clots or dripping large amounts of blood that doesn’t stop with rest and simple pressure, call your physician. Rarely after surgery patients will have bleeding that is significant enough to require a trip back to the operating room on an emergency basis, but this is very uncommon.
If you had a lot of external disease treated, then you are more likely to have oozing and bleeding. Some people find that wearing feminine panty liners in their underwear can be helpful and cut down on the amount of laundry that needs to be done.
Infection is very uncommon, but if you develop a fever greater than 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, then call your physician. Occasionally in people who are prone to herpes outbreaks and are not receiving suppressive medication such as acyclovir or Valtrex, a herpes outbreak can be precipitated by the surgery. If this happens, it often occurs 5 to 7 days following the surgery and is recognized by the fact that just when things started to feel better, they suddenly begin to feel worse.
Activity should be as tolerated, but we recommend that you take it easy for the first week or so depending on how you are feeling. You need time to allow your body to heal. You also need to be close to your bathtub to be able to soak. It’s probably a good idea to avoid putting yourself in situations where you will have to stand or walk or sit for extended periods of time. As you begin to heal and the pain abates, you can begin to resume your normal activities. Heavy exercise in which you increase your intra-abdominal pressure such as heavy sit ups, squats and leg lifts should probably be avoided for several weeks because of the possibility of causing spontaneous bleeding by aggravating your hemorrhoids.
The good news is everyone gets better; it just takes time. Sometime between 7 and 14 days, things begin to turn around and improve. That’s a good sign that you will continue to get better on a daily basis, but don’t push it too hard or too fast. Some people do amazingly well and have almost no pain and discomfort. Some people take little to no pain medications. Recovery is a very individual experience and seems to be somewhat different for everyone.
We usually recommend that patients return to be examined 2 to 3 months following the surgery. This is ample time to allow healing and allow people to be examined without causing significant pain or discomfort. Continued follow-up is very important and you should continue to be monitored on a regular basis, because the HSIL can and frequently does recur. Frequent monitoring may catch it at a time when it can be treated in the office avoiding another operation.
Avoid anal intercourse for as long as directed by your healthcare provider. Anal intercourse may make it harder for your anal fissure to heal. It may also tear more tissue around your anus.

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