My anus is bleeding: is it dangerous or not dangerous?
I have blood on my anus when I go for a bowel movement when I have big pushes, but I have no pain. What is happening to me?
The most likely diagnosis of the pain-free anus during a defecation effort at your age is bleeding from internal hemorrhoids.
However, a clinical examination is essential to eliminate another cause: polyp of the rectum, chronic anal fissure (tearing of the skin of the anus), sexually transmitted infection, a tumor of the anal canal.
Consult a proctologist who will examine your anal margin and perform an anoscopy: a small tube 8 cm long that is used to look in the anal canal and the lower part of the rectum (last part of the intestine).
The anal fissure is neither severe nor rare.
However, this injury of the anus is very unpleasant and must be treated quickly …
Although it is not easy to discuss the subject with his doctor!
What are the symptoms of an anal fissure?
The first symptom of a fissure in the anus is pain that occurs in three stages:
- Pain sometimes very strong when one goes to the saddle.
- The pain then calms down for a few minutes.
- It then resumes sometimes to last several hours.
It can also happen that an anal fissure bleeds – you can spot a small amount of blood on the toilet paper, or in the toilet.
How to make a difference with hemorrhoids?
The symptoms are relatively close, but the pain is stronger in the case of anal fissure.
What is going on?
The skin of the anus was damaged and a small superficial wound formed. It is not very big, generally between 1 and 2 centimeters, but it is painful.
Most of the time, the anal fissure is formed at the back of the anus, or possibly in the front (more often for women).
The causes of an anal fissure are not yet fully understood. It is sometimes merely caused by an injury, for example when passing stools particularly hard following constipation. It is also known that people who suffer from anal fissures usually have the muscles of the anus more contracted than the others, even at rest. This permanent spasm decreases the blood’s irrigation of the area, which prevents the skin from healing and encourages the formation of cracks.
Anal fissure: how to react?
The first thing to do when you notice pain in the anus is to see a doctor.
Of course, it is not easy to talk about such an intimate place. However, it is important to realize that there is nothing banaler. They constitute the second cause of consultation in proctology, after hemorrhoids.
Also, bleeding and saddle pain can signal other diseases, some of which are dangerous; it is, therefore, important to be treated quickly and adequately.
How to cure an anal fissure?
- The first thing to do is to regulate the transit to avoid constipation and make the exoneration of the stool less unpleasant.
You can use laxatives, but the most important thing is to change your diet for a regular flow.
- The use of anti-inflammatory or at least lubricating ointments, to help expel the stool, is common.
- Anti-pain is also sometimes used to avoid constipation that can settle because of the pain: for fear of pain, we postpone the time to go to the saddle, which makes the stool harder … and the vicious circle is in place.
- When the anal fissure is more severe or chronic, we can fight against the contracture of the muscle that is involved in the appearance of the crack, with ointments or injections.
Finally, surgeons can perform an anal fissure to remove the affected skin. It is an often efficient operation, but to choose with care, because the cicatrization in this region is not apparent.