Hi all. A very long story, as short as I can make it…
I’m a 53 year old female living in South West UK. I eat a pretty good vegetarian diet, I’m 5’2” and about 9 stone, and exercise regularly.
Married with 2 sons ages 23 and 14.
Unfortunately I had hemmerhoids after last child born, which never healed. Got worse over the years and ended up as external ones. Got so down with the discomfort, pain and inconvenience and fed up with them preventing me doing activities etc… I’d tried numerous prescriptions, creams, ointments etc etc nothing really helped so I decided to see private specialist (after GP suggested this would be easier/quicker/best option rather than NHS)
Told I could have hemmerhoidectomy. This was 2015. Had the procedure done in Bristol by ‘expert surgeon’ in this field. Surgery did not go quite to plan (surgeon’s own words) so I was left with excess skin/skin tags which he said he could easily remove with second procedure! He did that.
That seemed ok but weeks later, in agony I was told instead of hemmerhoids I now had anal fissure!! Don’t know which pain was worse…. : (
Anyway a couple of years went by with lots more prescriptions, ointments, natural remedies etc fissure finally healed (I think!), thank goodness!! But now I believe I’ve been left with a skin tag from the healed fissure. Is that what happens? I think it’s scar tissue from the fissure site?…
It feels like a hemmerhoid but I’ve been told it’s a skin tag.
When I use the toilet (BM) it hurts/stings like mad etc and for some time after, sometimes all day. Why does it hurt if it’s just scar tissue? So confusing. I have to be really careful to clean well after BM and immediately put Germoloids ointment on area.
The skin tag sometimes flares up larger, and really sore/painful etc.
I’m sure people here can relate to this. I’d love to hear from you.
So fed up, thinking is this pain I have to put up with for the rest of my life??…..
Anything can be done? Any solutions? Any success stories?
More surgery? (I dread the thought of this after what I’ve been through.. I’ve gone through quite a lot with surgeries, baby loss, fertility issues, and emergency crash c-section with last child!! But that’s another story!)
Please help….. Many thanks

So sorry that you are still in pain. I don't have any great advice for you but can tell you my experience. I am in the process of healing. Currently BM's are not painful but I have irritation afterwards that can last several hours. At one point, I posted that I was 99% better but now realize that was optimistic. Since your BM's are painful, I doubt the fissure has healed. Can you see your doctor to find out? For me, getting a Botox injection made all the difference. I got it after suffering for 2.5 months. I had been using nefedipine (?) ointment and following all of the doctors recommendations yet he still rated the fissure as "large" and I felt like it had not healed at all. After Botox, I started to notice a difference in about 2 weeks and have been healing (slowly) ever since (little over a month). Is Botox an option with NHS? If so, I would pursue it.