Dear Dr. Roach: My husband has been diagnosed with a rectal fissure. It has been a couple of months, and it isn't any better. He has been treated only with a stool softener. What do you suggest? — A.T ...

Hemorrhoids can be itchy and sore and make it difficult for you to have a bowel movement. You might notice blood in your stool or on toilet paper if these swollen veins bleed when you strain during a ...

A digital rectal exam, which may be painful, may be needed if a definitive diagnosis of anal fissures cannot be made based on a patient’s history. 1 Anoscopy, which also may be painful, can be used to ...

How do you treat a recurrent anal fissure, 6 months after adequate lateral sphincterotomy? The patient is a 65-year-old, markedly obese man with no evidence of inflammatory bowel disease. An anal ...

An anal fissure is a tear or ulcer in the lining of the anal canal, the final part of the large intestine, starting from the rectum above and ending at the anal orifice. Anal fissures are relatively ...

Piles, fissures, and fistula are common but often ignored due to stigma. Learn their symptoms, causes, and why early ...

Current treatments for anal fissures focus on reducing the tone of the internal anal sphincter, whether by sphincterotomy, injection of botulinum toxin or the topical application of nitroglycerin or ...

The gold-standard treatment for patients with chronic anal fissure (CAF) is lateral internal sphincterotomy (LIS). Few studies have assessed the impact of this procedure with regard to quality of life ...

Each month, The Clinical Advisor makes one new clinical feature available ahead of print. Don’t forget to take the poll. The results will be published in the next month’s issue. Anal fissures result ...