I've had chronic anal fissures for a couple of months now.

About to try GTN ointment as time/manuka honey/hot baths have not helped.

My fissures don't really cause me any pain, discomfort or any issues whatsoever EXCEPT when I am passing a stool. When I pass a stool there is the classic "passing shards of glass" feeling but it goes away within a minute or so.

My question is this. Other than the very short-lived pain, are the fissures potentially causing me any other long-term problems or are they "sinister" in any other way? For example, I'm thinking of the fact that they are essentially tears in the skin and open permanently - are you more like to get cancer? Infections of some kind? I'm not asking whether they could be symptomatic of some other disease (e.g. Chron's) but whether they are, in themselves, dangerous long term or can lead to bigger problems?

Thanks for any insight into this.

No they do not cause cancer and if anywhere else you may have read that they do, then that is wrong information. What could potentially happen is that the fissure doesn't heal correctly and leads to a fistula. And if allowed to go untreated over many years they could lead to scarring and a narrowing of the anal canal potentially. All of these are unlikely so go get yourself GTN or nifedipine and try not to worry too much.