Anal Fissures

Lateral internal sphincterotomy has a better success rate than any medicine that is used to treat long-term anal fissures.

Anal fissures do not lead to more serious conditions.

Rarely, a spasm of the levator ani muscles, also known as proctalgia fugax, can be associated with chronic anal fissures.

Anal fissures may be acute or chronic.

There are no reliable estimates of the frequency of anal fissures in the general population; some studies suggest that as many as one in five persons develop a fissure during their lifetime.

Anal fissures occur in the specialized tissue that lines the anus and anal canal, called anoderm.

Patients with anal fissures almost always experience anal pain that worsens with bowel movements.

Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.

An anal fissure is a tear in the anus causing a painful linear ulcer at the margin of the anus.

Some patients also note itching or irritation of the skin around the anus.

Fissures are quite common, but are often confused with other causes of pain and bleeding, such as hemorrhoids.

A fissure that has not healed after 6 weeks is considered long-term, or chronic, and may need additional treatment.

In some patients, the anal fissure doesn’t heal and becomes a painful sore that is constantly re-injured or torn with each bowel movement.

— An anal fissure is a tear in the lining of the anus, the opening where feces are excreted.

If you have an anal fissure that has not healed after 6 weeks, it is considered a long-term problem.

The pain following a bowel movement may be brief or long lasting; however, the pain usually subsides between bowel movements.

An anal fissure, a thin slit-like tear in the anal tissue, is likely to cause itching, pain, and bleeding during a bowel movement.

The two muscles that surround the anal canal are the external anal sphincter and the internal anal sphincter.

An anal fissure is a tear in the lining of the lower rectum that causes pain during bowel movements.

Nitroglycerin should not be used within 24 hours of medications used for erectile dysfunction, such as Viagra , Cialis , and Levitra.

Once a fissure develops, these symptoms can occur after every bowel movement; the rectal pain can last several minutes to hours.

The cause of the trauma usually is a bowel movement, and many patients can remember the exact bowel movement during which their pain began.

If gentle eversion the edges of the anus by separating the buttocks does not reveal a fissure, a more vigorous examination following the application of an anesthetic to the anus and anal canal may be necessary.

Surgery may be done when more conservative treatments fail to heal an anal fissure.

Such patients may require surgery, which is successful more than 95 percent of the time.

Once a fissure develops, the internal anal sphincter typically goes into spasm, causing further separation of the tear, impairing healing and causing pain.

Home treatment involves sitting in warm water for 20 minutes 2 or 3 times a day, increasing fiber and fluids in the diet, and using stool softeners or laxatives to have pain-free bowel movements.

Among patients with Crohn’s disease, 4% will have an anal fissure as the first manifestation of their Crohn’s disease, and half of all patients with Crohn’s disease eventually will develop an anal ulceration that may look like a fissure.

In some cases, an anal fissure may be caused by Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that causes bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, weight loss, and fissures or fistulas near the anus.

The pain can be so severe that patients are unwilling to have a bowel movement, resulting in constipation and even fecal impaction.