Should I get surgery for my anal fissure?

[Summer1972]

I had the surgery almost a month ago..NO pain whatsoever. I was back to work in three days. No incontinence but lately I have had a lot of excessive gas that is ruining me life. But at least my fissure is healed up it seems.

[qball]

Have any of you had a white/yellowish liquid coming from your fissure before or after you had surgery? I don't have much pain but I still have a bit of blood (I only see it on my boxers sometimes but not when I wipe), and this strange liquid that is pretty consistent in showing up at least once a day.

Did either of you have this as well? I'm thinking of scheduling surgery soon to hopefully get rid of this pain in the butt!

[purpleladyfish]

qball

I don't recall ever having any kind of a discharge from my fissure, of course, I was in and out of a bathtub so much it would have been hard to tell. Have you mentioned this discharge to your doctor? You have seen a doctor, right? How long have you had your fissure? If you do decide to have the LIS surgery, make sure you have a qualified colon rectal surgeon performing it. The surgery does fix the fissure. The reason a chronic fissure usually won't heal on its own is because of the sphincter muscle spasming. Having the surgery relaxes the muscle and allows the fissure to heal. I only had the sphincterotomy not a fissurectomy. My surgeon explained to me that there was no reason to perform the fissurectomy when the sphincterotomy would allow the fissure to heal and I would have immediate pain relief. If I had the fissurectomy with the sphincterotomy the pain relief would not be immediate as I would now have stitches in the fissure and there would still be pain while having a bm because the stool would still be grazing over an open wound, only now it has stitches to boot. Wasn't up for a painful recovery after what I had already been living through. My fissure healed fine after the surgery and recovery was a breeze. It will get better, you are in my thoughts and prayers.

[qball]

Yes, I've seen the doctor twice and he is a colon specialist. He says he does about 15 to 20 of these sphincterotomy a year so I'm not too concerned with his abilities. He says the discharge is a protein-rich liquid that is normal and it's just the fissure trying to heal. But I've seen it for awhile now (couple of months) so does that mean it is not healing completely because the discharge keeps appearing? I don't have much pain and it is off and on. I mainly want the surgery now to help stop this discharge from happening. I'll probably be making my decision soon as my doctor is coming back from his vacation this week.

Also, purpleladyfish, is your fissure completely or mostly healed? Do you have anymore pain or discomfort from that area or from your surgery wound? And if not how long after the surgery were you back to your old self.

Thanks all for the kind words and advice.

[Booie98]

I just wanted to chime in here with a bit different experience. Two months ago I thought I was going to have to have the surgery because I was so miserable with a chronic fissure. I had what felt like a huge inflamed tag that was the most painful part of it. BM's were not that bad...I do kind of remember a discharge some days, if this makes you feel better to know you're not the only one. I've tried a lot of things. The two main things that I believe had made a difference are the prescription nifedipine cream and taking Miralax. For me, excess fiber was not a good thing, but the miralax has really helped. I'm to the point now where I'm pretty comfortable, comfortable enough to not risk surgery, though I know from my reading that this could change at any time and I could be headed back to the butt doc. Good luck, Lynn