You can prevent anal fissures by eating high-fibre foods, exercising regularly and drinking lots of water. These all help digestion and bowel health, and help prevent constipation. It's also important to wipe your bottom gently after going to the toilet.
Some of the home remedies you might want to try to treat anal fissures also may help to prevent them in the future. Drinking more water and choosing foods with more fiber and water content will help to make your stools softer. Passing stools more easily will reduce the discomfort that comes with fissures.
Fluids You also must drink adequate amounts of fluid, up to eight glasses a day. Surgery If your fissure does not heal in four weeks or you have had your fissure for a long time you may need surgery.
If your symptoms do not improve within a week or 2, the GP may prescribe a medicine called glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), an ointment applied to the anal canal, usually twice a day. GTN works by expanding blood vessels in and around the anus, increasing the blood supply to the fissure and helping it heal faster.
Support your feet with a small step stool when you sit on the toilet. This helps flex your hips and places your pelvis in a squatting position. Your doctor may recommend an over-the-counter laxative, such as Milk of Magnesia or Restoralax.
Causes and Risk Factors
Passing a hard stool or prolonged episode of diarrhea. Lack of fiber in the diet and/or water with that fiber. Food that creates a rough passage through the digestive system, such as popcorn, nuts or tortilla chips.
The exposed internal sphincter muscle beneath the tear goes into spasm. This causes severe pain. The spasm also pulls the edges of the fissure apart, making it difficult for your wound to heal.
Most anal fissures heal within a few days to weeks. A chronic anal fissure lasts more than eight weeks. If you're in treatment for a chronic anal fissure, it may take another six to 12 weeks for the treatment to work and the fissure to finally heal.
Walking promotes overall good health. It lowers the chances of formation of hard stools and stimulates and promotes blood flow which is helpful if you have a fissure.
Chronic fissures typically have a cyclical history of intermittent healing and recurrence, but about 35% will eventually heal, at least temporarily, without intervention.
Correct sleeping position for fissure
HOD also advises you to sleep on your stomach to reduce anal fissure pain and place a pillow under your hips. Taking a fully body warm bath before bed is recommended for reducing the pain levels and helping you fall asleep better.
Keep the anal area clean by washing with water every day. Don't use soaps as they will reduce the natural oils that protect the anus and may make the area dry and itchy. Use aqueous cream or a soap-free cleanser instead.
How do you know if a fissure is healing? You'll start to notice your symptoms improving as your fissure is healing. Your pain should lessen and if you had any bleeding, this should stop too. You should have a follow-up appointment with your doctor after six to eight weeks.
Sitting can be quite painful with an anal fissure. You may see a few drops of blood in the toilet bowel or when wiping.
Anal fissures usually heal within a few weeks without the need for treatment. But they can easily come back if they're caused by constipation that remains untreated. In some people, symptoms from anal fissures last 6 weeks or more (chronic anal fissures).
Itching. Itching can also be another sign that the anal fissure is healing. The skin typically itches as it heals. Inflammatory cells flood the wound site to eliminate bacteria and other infections.
If a fissure lasts more than 8 to 12 weeks, you may need prescription medicines. These may include nitroglycerin cream, high blood pressure medicines in pill or gel form, or injections of botulinum toxin (Botox). If medicines don't stop your symptoms, you may need to consider surgery.
Many times, the scratching of the anal area makes the problem worse. It often occurs at night. If we could just eliminate the nighttime scratching, things often improve.
In addition, stress and psychological disturbances may have a role in the development of chronic anal fissures through causing sympathetic dysfunction manifesting as a tonic pressure rise in the pressure of the anal canal [8]. Stress may be implicated in the formation and development of chronic anal fissures.
Numbing cream can also make bowel movements less painful. Petroleum jelly, zinc oxide, 1% hydrocortisone cream, and products like Preparation H can help soothe the area. Instead of toilet paper, use alcohol-free baby wipes that are gentler on the area. Sitz baths can help heal fissures and make you feel better.
In adults, fissures may be caused by passing large, hard stools, or having diarrhea for a long time. Other factors may include: Decreased blood flow to the area. Too much tension in the sphincter muscles that control the anus.
Some fissures can be minimally symptomatic, but most patients present with severe pain, bleeding, or itching. The pain can be localized to the anus but can radiate to the buttocks, upper posterior thighs, or lower back. Often the pain is triggered by a bowel movement, can last for hours, and can be severe.
Give a warm salt water bath for 20 minutes. Add 2 ounces (60 ml) of table salt to a tub of warm water. You can also use baking soda. Do 2 times per day for 1 day to cleanse the area and to help healing.
Small fissures can heal up on their own without any treatment. If you have a very large fissure, it can require a visit to a proctologist to do surgery. The small to medium ones are treated with a cream that dilates the blood vessels and stimulates blood flow to the fissure.