Home treatment is a good option if you are suffering from temporary anal fissures. treatment can help ease tightness very quickly, and typically within a few days, bowel movements will become easier. Complete healing takes anywhere from a month to six weeks.
One such home healing is a sitz bath where you soak your buttocks in warm water for 20 minutes. This bath is taken 2 or 3 times a day. You also need to incorporate more fiber and fluids in your diet. This helps to soften your stool and prevent constipation. You can also use laxatives and stool softeners, but do so only under medical guidance.
Sometimes, these fissures and the pain caused by them cannot be completely healed by home remedies. After six weeks have passed, any remaining fissures are then classified as long term or chronic anal fissures. These conditions require healing and medication from a licensed physician.
Medication: For patients suffering from chronic fissures, medicinal first-line treatments are usually prescribed by experienced doctors. Here are some of the medicines that are used for long term anal fissure cure.
1. Nitroglycerin Cream - a very small amount of this cream, just 0.2%, will help decrease pressure in the sphincter; the internal muscles in the anus. The pressure on the sphincter must be reduced in order for the curing process to begin, which makes this cream very beneficial. However, you need to be careful not to use more than a pea-sized dot of cream at a time. When overused, the side effects of this product can include lightheadedness and headaches. In extreme cases it can even cause fainting due to a drop in blood pressure. Wear gloves to apply the cream, and massage it gently into the anal fissure and the areas around it.
2. The two medicines called Nifedipine and Diltiazem are in pills form which decrease presure in internal anal sphincter.
3. Botox - Botox, also known as Botulinum toxin is also used as an effective anal fissure treatment. A fixed amount of botox is injected into the sphincter. This causes the muscles in the sphincter to paralyze, relieving tension on the fissures.
Surgery: As a last resort, doctors may turn to surgery as treatment for anal fissure pain. A favored procedure which has a high success rate is Lateral Internal Sphincterotomy. Here the doctor makes a tiny cut on the internal anal sphincter. This is useful in minimizing the pressure and thus alleviating the pain. The fissures will cure themselves so there is no need to surgically close them.
While this surgery is quite successful, there are some Weaknesses of going in for lateral internal sphincterotomy. 8 out of 100 people have complained of incontinence, or the ability to control stool and gas, after this surgery. However, using nitroglycerine cream can also cause long term incontinence, and the effects of the medicine are nowhere as powerful as the surgery.
For many the benefits of surgery exceed any disadvantages. Compared to at home treatment, surgery has a higher success rate, fewer relapses, and last longer.
There is yet another procedure known as anal advancement flap, which is usually carried out on women giving birth. Since they do not have a high resting pressure in their internal sphincter this procedure works out best for them. In anal advancement flap, the Physician begins by removing the edges of the fissures, and sewing healthy tissue over the same area.
In the past, John Cole endured the pain of hemorrhoids. If seeking help or have questions regarding anal fissure, please view his onlinehemorrhoids guide.
