Hi all.

New to the forum but have been following for a few months since my abscess turned into a fistula. I've had a simple fistulotomy about 8 weeks ago- still draining but doctor said its new tissue drainage not infection. I must say I feel great even with some minor drainage... but I still have a shallow wound that makes bms a process. Still have to use wet wipes to ensure proper cleaning because of wound.

I know healing time varies from person to person, but has anyone had experience a long healing time like this? Haven't been to my colorectal surgeon in about a month- he thought it would be about 6 weeks or so before healed and said he was not concerned. I should mention that I am a healthy 32 female with no previous issues- I'm convinced my fistula is in some relation to the delivery of my 1 year old son- pushed for 6 hours and had severe edema.

Hi Lrossi1,

Welcome to forum.

Sorry to hear about your fistula, I was diagnosed in May this year and like you had a simple fistulotomy. It's now been six months almost and I'm still not fully healed, although I am a lot further along.

I have to say at 8 weeks I was in a pretty bad way, discharging a lot and bm's being difficult (still are), problems walking sitting etc. I think sitting became possible after about 12 weeks but I still can't do it comfortably or for long.

Like you my surgeon was very confident everything would be fine in 6 weeks - I don't think I've ever heard of anyone healing in this time! I think a lot of it depends on where your fistula was, and the type etc. Mine was very superficial but was quite high and in the posterior midline which is a notoriously difficult area to heal. I remember having a golf ball like swelling where my sutures were at the anal verge posteriorly. That took ages to heal, probably about 5 months, and it still feels bruised.

Like you I am also 32 but male with no previous issues other than an anal fissure which I suspect was related to my fistula in some way.

At 8 weeks I wouldn't worry, it's a very slow area to heal. I certainly was in a lot of pain at your stage.

How are your pain levels?

Hi Lrossi,
The healing process and time to heal depends entirely on the individual, the level of surgery performed, the extent & the depth of the fistulotomy......The theory is the more superficial and the smaller the fistula, the quicker the recovery but it certainly takes a while longer than the 6 weeks or so a CRS might advise!
Full recovery for myself took around 6 months, although the external wound had healed within 2 months and my drainage stopped pretty quickly.
Some older threads on the site report drainage up to about 8 months, but these were more complex issues and the good news is that the drainage seemed to be the very last symptom before these individuals reported full healing.
Hopefully, this should not be too much longer for you - I wouldn't be surprised if you started seeing some really noticeable improvement within the next 4 weeks. Your recovery sounds really good and if your CRS is pleased, feel encouraged.....
BMs are a little tricky still with those open wounds but as long as you keep your stools super-soft, no straining! and a gentle but thorough clean-up regime (a detachable shower head is brilliant if you have one)....you will get there possibly sooner than you think!
All the very best in your continued healing :)

Thanks for your replies. I have been back to the CRS and have had two rounds of silver nitrate to encourage healing. Ouch!! Very painful for about 5 minutes but if it works it's worth it. Apparently it helps to remove granulated tissue and promote new tissue to form and heal. He said I may need 3 more months of these treatments and should be good to go. Fingers crossed this is the end of my Fistula Saga!

Hi Lrossi,
It's good to read your update and sorry the silver nitrate is giving you some grief, but there have been some very positive & encouraging responses from people using it on here.
Fingers crossed that this works out well for you & sorts that Fistula healing once & for all!! :)

Good luck. Hope all goes well. Keep us updated.

Mine took 14 weeks to close fully....left a minor dimple....scar pain continues for some time after...coconut oil helps. This is all assuming it was a simple fistulotomy.

I am almost at the 12 week stage. Finally starting to come around. Still have very tiny amount of drainage showing up on gauze/silvercell. The ache is getting better daay by day and is almost completely gone . I can sit up now for extended periods and don't have that dull ache now at the end of the day. I really took it easy m..stayed off work for 10 weeks...and feel good to be getting back into the swing of things. Dr says wound looks good and some minor drainage is normal. This is the second time for me. 1st time after about 6 weeks abs things closed up the fistula reappeared ...Dr didn't not get the internal opening ....anyways things are good now and I am feeling great.

Drainage for me stopped 5 days post-surgery (fistulotomy), I'm guessing because I got most of the drainage done two months prior with the abscess and the fistula had literally just formed (it wasn't there at the time the abscess was drained). The wound still took 14 weeks to heal, but it got there. I am 13 months post-surgery now. No issues, only some minor extra wiping with BMs since there is a small dimple. Of course, if you have some other condition (e.g. Crohn's or Celiac) which caused the abscess/fistula then healing can be much, much longer. Thankfully, while the condition is very common with people who have those diseases, the vast majority (90-95%) of perianal abscesses are not due to any underlying medical condition.

Hi All,
I'm facing similar situation. I've had a perianal abscess which was very painful. I was hardly able to walk/sit properly, i.e. reduced to no movement. On the day of the surgery. it burst out on its own but then also I went for the surgery which was alright and the whole area was drained and cleaned. The surgery was done on 18th February, 2016 and the wound almost healed in 8-9 weeks but then I started experiencing pain in the same region after almost 10 weeks of the surgery. There was also a bit of pain and discharge coming through. I went to my CRS again, and after undergoing MRI scan, I was told that it was a low fistula. He further explained that 50% of abscess turn into fistula so that's pretty normal. I just wanted to get rid of all this pain and so I decided to undergo another surgery (called fistulectomy) on 17th May which was less painful than the previous one. The wound has healed properly in about a month and only a small bit is left now. I'm taking sitz baths twice every day and still taking laxative to avoid constipation. I'm also having daily dressings. The healing has been fine until last week and now, I'm experiencing discharge and similar pain (inflammation and needle like pain like before being diagnosed with abscess) after every bowel movement. There isn't any blood in the discharge but there are some stool particles. There are also some brown/yellow coloured stuffs which looks like puss with foul smell. Is that normal or is there any chance that I might have another fistula/abscess? I'm a bit worried as I don't want to go through all of that again. Last 6-7 months have been really painful.
Any help/suggestions/tips is greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot.