Hi all,

I have a question for all of you who had fistulotomy. I wanted to know about recovery processes, I was going through the forum and found several stories, but just wanted to ask a few details, from your experiences,

-How does the wound look like while healing, month or longer after the surgery? Open, scar, red spot? Anyone had dark area, violet-ish, like a bruise, or pimple-looking? Is it hard on touch?
-How do you know whether it gets infected and/or another fistula or abscesses has formed? Bleeding and discharge (no smell) should be normal, and as some people here at the forum say - for a long time, even a year or so...but how do you make a difference between that and infection?

It would mean a lot to know how to recognise these things! (I'm not able to visit my surgeon for next months)
Thanks!

Hi Garrod. I can't speak from experience about a fistula per se as I don't know if what I had laid open was just an abcess or a fistula but I do know what an infection feels like. It feels hot and burning. You didn't mention pain...does it hurt? Where is your purple bump? Could it be a hemorrhoid? Hopefully some else chimes in.

Hi garrod I had a fistulotomy which my fistula was about 4 inches long ... Mine was an open wound no packing just a nice slice from my actual butt hole over 4 inches along my cheek... I also had a seton put in ... My wound kinda looked like a hot dog bun when u first pry it open ... As it healed the deepest point of the slice came up to match the rest of the flesh took a total of 6-8 weeks for mine to completely fill in ... As it healed it did turn a deep red/purplish color and still is but that's now the scar ... I always worried about another fistula but only time tells that .. I had discharge through the whole healing process at first there was a bit of a smell which I think was the infection that was inside the fisutla but after a week or so it was just normal discharge from the skin healing ... I had the seton removed at the 6 wk mark and my discharge slowed off and completely stopped ... My doc told me that if there was another fistula I would continue to have discharge ... When an infection is present the area will be tender and have a red glow around it and sometimes u will get a fever with chills etc

I hope the info helps but each person is different with healing ... I took a lot of sitz baths with Epsom salt in it and almost every night I would soak in a tub of Epsom salt ... If I can help in any other way I will sometimes just chatting about this helps .. Not many people are open about this stuff ... Hope things are well for u :)

Hi Dewlilly, thanks a lot for your answer!
I understand that the healing process is different for everyone, but it helps a lot to know experiences of others and to know what to expect...
I figured something like a scar is expected, and my wound partially looks like that right now (I'm more than 2 months after surgery), like a scar and it's dark red around.
But next to it, I have a pimple-like violet spot... and that's what worries me. I still get some bleeding, fresh blood, and discharge that does not smell, sometimes a lot of it. I see from people's posts that both can be normal months after post-op... Since it was a simple fistula I thought it would have healed by now. It is also hard around the wound. Last couple of days there is also mild pain, stinging-like, but nothing sever...

But: no bad smell and no fever, I hope I have no infection; but I am not so confident...

Dewlilly wrote:Hi garrod I had a fistulotomy which my fistula was about 4 inches long ... Mine was an open wound no packing just a nice slice from my actual butt hole over 4 inches along my cheek... I also had a seton put in ... My wound kinda looked like a hot dog bun when u first pry it open ... As it healed the deepest point of the slice came up to match the rest of the flesh took a total of 6-8 weeks for mine to completely fill in ... As it healed it did turn a deep red/purplish color and still is but that's now the scar ... I always worried about another fistula but only time tells that .. I had discharge through the whole healing process at first there was a bit of a smell which I think was the infection that was inside the fisutla but after a week or so it was just normal discharge from the skin healing ... I had the seton removed at the 6 wk mark and my discharge slowed off and completely stopped ... My doc told me that if there was another fistula I would continue to have discharge ... When an infection is present the area will be tender and have a red glow around it and sometimes u will get a fever with chills etc

I hope the info helps but each person is different with healing ... I took a lot of sitz baths with Epsom salt in it and almost every night I would soak in a tub of Epsom salt ... If I can help in any other way I will sometimes just chatting about this helps .. Not many people are open about this stuff ... Hope things are well for u :)

I'm curious about something. If you had a fistulotomy, then where did the seton go? I thought they cut open the fistula tract into a grove when doing a fistulotomy? So I can't figure out where the seton would go.

I thought the seton was for when they don't lay open the fistula. They run the seton thru the fistula and out the anus.

Hi calc ... My seton went in through my rectum through the inside beginning of the fistula and comes outside the body through the fistula track that was "de-roofed"/ opened up (fistulotomy) and then tied like a loop basically ... Depending how high up the sphincter the fistula beginning is is why they use a drainage seton ... Sorry if my explanation isn't very good ... The cutting seton and drainage setons are same looking just the cutting one they tighten every few weeks and the drainage one helps shrink the original opening where the fistula formed and then once removed the small hole closes over ... They do run it the seton thru the fistula but only thing part where the fistula formed the rest of the fistula is sliced opened lol ... Hope helped

Thanks for the help, that makes sense.

I thought that they lay open the entire fistula tract. But from your description, they stop right before the sphincter. So the seton goes into the anus, around the sphincter, and out where the laid open tract starts.

Yep exactly u got it

Hi all,
writing in despair now...

I think I have developed another fistula at the wound spot.
What makes me think so? Discharge, yellowish (sometimes darker), with fresh blood, coming from a little red spot. Area around it is hard on touch. Sometimes warmish. No pain. No bad smell. It hasn't changed for more than a month, maybe two, no progress on wound healing, I figured, that's it, it's another fistula.

It's been 3 months since I had simple fistulotomy. I had really expected everything will be over by now. Why this would have happened, I don't know... I kept the area clean, had 2 to 3 sitzbaths per day.

Desperate is a mild word for what I feel now (though I know there are worse scenarios...). As I don't have fever nor chills I didn't go to the doctor to get antibiotics or check the wound, and I get to meet my surgeon only in two months from now.
Thinking I'd need another surgery makes me so anxious...

I know the chances are very low, but is it possible that a wound takes so long to heal, and that the healing progress stagnates for almost two months? In case of simple fistula?

Why do you have to wait to see your CRS?? If you think there is a problem, go see him.