Anal Fissure Symptoms

Anal Fissure: Introduction

Anal fissure is when you suffer a small tear or break in the delicate skin lining of your anus. Such fissure can be a cause of periodic pain, itching and/or bleeding that mostly occurs following defecation.

Anal fissure may develop following pressure during hard stool eviction which causes the anal lining to tear.

What are the Anal Fissure Symptoms?

Nonetheless, anal fissure may also be caused due to underlying health conditions including fever, abdominal pain, vitamin deficiency, Crohn's disease, weight loss and inflammatory bowel disease. People on a low fiber diet can also be prone to developing a fissure.

Some of the identifiable symptoms for anal fissure:

As the fissure is hidden from vision and located in a place where identification becomes difficult, anal fissure can become apparent when;

• You experience pain that is stinging and sharp which may also cause a burning sensation during a bowel movement (when you pass stool).
• You may experience anal fissure signs such as bright red spots of blood when you use toilet tissue to clean up after defecating. Limited bleeding appears on the tissue after stool is passed and is not part of the stool. A different condition exists if you experience blood in the stool.
• In addition, you may also suffer from anal fissure symptoms in the form of itching around the anal area and/or bad smelling discharge.

These fissures are also known to occur in women at the time of delivering a child. Besides, there are other reasons for anal fissure that include constipation, insertion of digital thermometer (fever examination), insertion of a foreign body, and in some cases - anal intercourse and a lack of dietary fiber intake.

Symptoms and signs of anal fissures often fade off by themselves (are self healing). If there is substantial pain and swelling, with the fissure persisting for more than a month, a medical diagnosis is firmly recommended.