I am 38 years old and have been battling an unilateral anal fissure for over a year now.
My issue is on and off. In other words, once the tear re-opens, then it takes about a week before it is pain free. I may go two weeks to two months but it never fails, the fissure returns - and I must say, it's the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life.
Last week I made an appointment with my Anal/Rectal Doctor and told him that we can make this the quickest office visit of his career. He said, "How's that?" I replied, "Just get your calendar out and tell me how soon I can get this LIS surgery done."
This Friday is the moment of truth and to be completely honest with you, I'm nervous as all heck.
The surgery isn't what I'm nervous about, it's the RECOVERY TIME! I asked the nurses at the doctors office and the best answer I could get out of them was, "Everyone has a different pain threshold."
Okay. That does nothing for me. What I'm trying to calculate here is just how long is TYPICAL that most are laid up for?
Those of you that had the LIS surgery. Will you please answer the following questions.
#1. From a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most painful) - what would you consider the post operation pain level?
#2. What were the most painful days after the surgery? Day 1 after. Day 2. Day 3 etc.?
#3. Could you drive/work after Day 3-4?
I'm actually considering postponing this surgery if it's going to keep me out of commission for very long. I lead a very active lifestyle and have some important work related projects that I need to be a part of 8 days after my surgery/procedure.
I will be very appreciative if those of you that actually had the LIS surgery could give me a sneak preview of what exactly I should expect.
Thanks so much!

That's a tough one, because your doctor is right - everyone recovers differently. You should review the posts on this forum to find out what people's experience has been with LIS. Go to the surgery forum, and look for the appropriate posts.
Some of us, myself included, have posted daily recovery diaries here, so that people like you will have a good idea of what to expect.
For me, the pain after surgery was severe. That level of pain only lasted for a few days, and then the pain was only severe with a BM. After about a week, there was no background pain, and the only pain was with BMS, but even then the pain from BMs was only moderate.
I was taking a few short business calls by about the 4th or 5th day, but still feeling pretty poor overall. I drove a bit after a week, and did some banking, but I was not feeling good enough to go to work until about day 10. I went golfing on day 12.
Some people have recovered faster than me; some slower. I was in very good shape when I went in for surgery, but I had both LIS and a hemmoroidectomy.
Good luck. I say get it done. As my surgeon said to me (when I pointed out that the timing might be inconvenient): How does it feel now? Bad? Yeah, well I can fix that. He was right. Get it done and be healed.

I agree - your nurse gave you the most honest answer she could !!!! Actually - kudos to her, since most doctors like to clump up all patients in "2 week period" of the recovery
I had 2 LIS surgeries in the span of one year.
First one involved only the LIS and one fissurectomy (removing scar tissue from a chronic fissure) . I recovered very fast from that one . Was able to go out in a week with minimal discomfort. Compete healing though took about 6 weeks.
Second time I had LIS, 2 skin tags removed, 3 internal centenial piles and a fissurectomy, so , of course my level of pain was MUCH higher and recovery longer. I was home-bound for 2 weeks and than got better and better with steady and nice steps forward. I healed completely in 8 week period ( when I say completely, I mean even the smallest discomfort disappearing ).
So - it is not only going to depend of how fast you heal, but what is going to be done. Many times CRS can not say 100% what will be needed until they "put you out" and open that anus completely and "look around".
Some people really can be completely recovered in a week or 2, some need 4, some 8, some 4 mos , etc.
NOBODY can make any predictions , unfortunately *sigh, so if you are not in a major pain and have extremely important event coming, than you might want to wait
Best of luck with whatever you decide

I had Fissurectomy and LIS one week ago today, and can tell you that the pain level on a scale of 1-10 was most definitely 10+, even now one week later I'm still in pain after BM's, but the first 2 or 3 days were totally "off the pain scale" You may be different though since your having just the LIS procedure, still, I would expect some pain and discomfort that will last a good length of time. For me driving is a no-no, sitting down is near impossible but everyone is different and heal quicker or slower than others.
The anus and rectum are very sensitive areas to be operated on because of the sheer amount of nerves supplying the area so as you can well imagine there's definitely gonna be pain after, sorry to disappoint you but it's better to be well informed and prepared somewhat.
Good luck!

Hi Folks,
I want to thank each and every one of you for your quick responses. Your answers were instrumental with my final decision to POSTPONE this procedure to a later date.
You know, I'm just glad that I took some time out yesterday and decided to actually do a little research on this procedure. Truthfully, prior to yesterday I did not give it too much thought.
I tricked myself into thinking that if this is a short (10 minutes or less) procedure, that the recovery time would be short and mild. Yeah right.
Also, I guess I'm having MORE than just this LIS procedure and it sounds to me I'm also having what you are describing as a Fissurectomy. The doc explained to me that they were going to "remove" and do a biopsy on the fissure itself.
With that in mind, it sounds like I'm in the same boat is the rest of you here.
My next docs appointment is September 13th. What I hoping and praying for is by then, this fissure will show signs of improvement. Keep in mind, this is not an everyday problem for me. I go weeks without any issues then one hard bowel movement and I'm back to square one again. I've been dealing with this, on and off for over a year.
I also have what they call a "unilateral fissure" with is on the side as opposed to at the top. Typically a unilateral fissure is a sign an underlying cause such as, Crohns, Lukemia, IBS etc. However, I really don't think I have any of these things.
I had a colonoscopy last year with no issues found. I also had a battery of blood work done when my son was born and I'm assuming that if I had something major going on, it would be detected in those tests.
Nonetheless, thanks a million for whomever 'created' this forum and for all of you that participate on it. I'll be a regular............no pun intended.

Glad to hear we were of any help
I have to agree with your decision. If you are not in a major pain, there is no rush at this point, really :roll: . One more month with a minimal pain will fly by in no time : ))) !
After reading your post, my guess would be that you really just need to address consistency of your BMs :D since you heal easily and often completely , even with irregular BMs !!!!
Even though your fissure is not on a typical location, if all of your tests came back negative, than I also think you can relax. With Crohn's fissure is not only on the lateral position but there is usually more than one fissure present and they also look more as an ulcer than a "cut" :roll: At least that is what is written in med. papers and what one of mine CRSs told me.
Fissurectomy is done very often with any chronic fissure (one that is present more than 2 mos.) for the purpose of removal of the scar tissue which can hinder the fast and correct healing. Good CRSs also use that opportunity to check that "sample" for any abnormality.
Although your CRS is very eager to do the procedure it looks like that he is very self assured, which can only come from experience and it seems that he is thorough : )))! All good signs ; )))!
Best of luck with it all , and remember that we are all different and as much as some of the members have hard time recovering, some had very easy time after LIS and fissurectomy combined !!!
I had my first LIS and fissurectomy just before Christmas and went out to celebrate New Year "all prepped up" and even danced and needed only Tylenol
One just never knows how it will go , unfortunately *sigh

No problem. :)
I noticed you didn't mention your diet and if you take stool softeners or not, most, if not all of us have changed our diets in an attempt to manage the pain and to try and heal, these changes are definitely the first things to undertake, ask your GP for some Miralax and either Rectogesic (Nitro), Nifedipine or Diltiazem to help relax the sphincter and promote blood flow to the area, you never know, you may just heal with these measures, oh and don't forget to drink a ton of water with the Miralax which will help make softer stools.. Just a thought!

Yes , It is a good question Steve : ))) !!!!
But I think he said that he heals on his own in between the episodes so he does not have than any problem healing , I guess .
In that case he only needs to address his BM consistency and diet : ) which is much easier feat : )))

The Miralax. Oh let me tell you about the Miralax!
Ah. Perhaps that should be a story for another time but I'm going to tell you something, I had NO idea what I was getting myself into when I was first introduced to this little invention. Let's just say that I had numerous uncontrollable bowel movements that could have easily put me in a highly embarrassing situation.
Fortunately, my body has grown acceptance to this little helper and truthfully, it's been Godsend considering it does exactly what it needs to do.
First let me say that when my fissure(s) act up, from a scale of 1-10 (10 being the worst), the pain ranks beyond 10. When this starts, I instantly go on my own fiber only diet and eat as little as possible for about a week to 10 days. By then the pain subsides and goes away.
Is this not the norm for most of the folks here on this discussion board? Are you actually telling me that you have suffered literally non stop for years with this kind of pain? I seriously cannot imangine how anyone can tolerate this longer than a week or so. I'd go out of mind mind.
My problem seems to be re-injuring the fissure right when I think the coast is clear. I may go a month, two months or so and WHAMMO! It's back with a vengence and the fear of going to the bathroom is worst than the nightmare I had once of Rosie O'Donnell naked. Immediately, I'm the fiber addict and hitting the Lidocane gel and of course my friend, the Miralax.
I have an appointment on September 12th with my CRS and I'm hoping he's going to tell me that, he can SEE the healing. Last week I was in misery. Today, I feel great. Tomorrow............well, we'll see what happens but dang it, I don't want this surgery so once again, I'm really going to watch what I eat and keep these bowel movements right.
Thanks again folks. You really are doing a great service to those in need.

Hey americaneagle,
My fissure completely kicked my ass (pun intended as well :)) HARDCORE in the beginning. But as time passed, the pain became more tolerable. It still sucked but I no longer lived in sheer terror of every upcoming trip to the pooper. I don't know if I can attribute that to the fissure simply entering a "more chronic" phase or if it was due to my use of Miralax and topical ointments (nitroglycerin, nifedipine, or diltiazem as Steve mentioned), but whatever the reason, it doesn't seem to be an uncommon pattern for fissure sufferers.
BTW you can always adjust your dose of Miralax. I do fine with a full 17g dose every day but some people are much more sensitive and either take a lower dose or can't take it at all.
I think postponing surgery was the right call too. Regardless of your ultimate outcome, I think it's of the utmost importance to go into surgery with the right mindset -- knowing that no matter what the outcome, you went in on your own terms and for the right reasons. That way you know it was the right call no matter how it all shakes out in the end. Even though I'm still having a hard time after LIS, I can't say I regret the decision because I'd already tried everything else. Sometimes you make the right call and it just doesn't work out.