Here's a link Paul posted that you may find interesting also.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1357726/

interested to hear if any ones had any improvements as times gone on ..?

I went to my CRS a couple weeks ago about the leakage. After taking a look in there he said the fissure site hasn't healed completely and could cause stool to get trapped in there and be discharged later. He also recommended upping my fiber which I've done but I'm still not seeing improvements. If I go back in a few weeks and it's not healing better he said we may have to use silver nitrate which is supposed to burn like a mother... I'm really hoping to avoid that. So no real improvements for me so far 6 months post-op.

Hmmmm... Have read through the last 5 pages of this post only to find quite a few people with leakage but none with enough to leave traces on the ol' undergarments.... Perhaps it is because i am only 2 1/2 weeks post fissurectomy and sphinchterectomy that I indeed do have the mightily embarrassing skid marks? And enough leakage to sometimes go through my pants or skirt as well? :oops:
Man-o-man. I am soooo glad to be beyond the pain, to be able to walk and sit and drive and smile again. But as you all say in your posts, it would be nice not to have to worry about soiling one's undies as an adult (and -- yikes -- perhaps smelling as though I need a diaper change!).
What I fear is that my surgeon did a posterior cut, and that I have the dreaded keyhole sphincter now! The one that leaks the most easily, whereby one almost never feels fully voided or clean. That is the only place that I still have jabs of pain, right at the posterior edge near the tip of the coccyx. I had my surgery in France, and getting info from specialists here is tough. They know best, and often seem insulted if you ask questions! Being American, with a relatively strong knowledge of medecine and good Internet access, I DO ask a lot of questions, but don't always manage to get a direct answer.
My 1st post-op visit is next monday so I hope that she will finally explain exactly what she cut and where!
So, is there anyone else out there that has or had post-LIS leakage that is very clearly visible on panties and briefs?

I just had to lift up this thread since I have a similar problem... I would really like to know if the people who wrote here still have issues with leakage? Has it got better since? How far post OP are you now?
I hope somebody's still here to answer:) Thanks.

Yup, still problems. I had two LIS's and the pain never went away. Likely I have nerve dammage and never needed a LIS (pudendal neuralgia). Well not the second one anyway. I still have great pain with bms and leakage is there. Not enough for the undies but as another poster mentioned it is directly related to how soft it is. For me it has to be very soft to pass somewhat comfortably (I never strain either). It has been 2 years since my last LIS. Some tips: Metamucil bulks it up. That will help decrease leakage. After BM walk around for 20 minutes or so, then hop into bath or sitz bath. If I do that then it doesn't bother me all day...usually. Using a barrier like Sudocreme helps but I don't like to use it. Only if I don't have time to bath I need to use it just in case. Really upset about this and worry how loose I'll be when I'm 80. I am only 35:(

Someone sent me a private message today and that led me to come on and check the posts. I had LIS in Feb of 2011 and no longer am having leakage problems. Over the last year things have really become increasingly back to normal!

Bambi wrote:Someone sent me a private message today and that led me to come on and check the posts. I had LIS in Feb of 2011 and no longer am having leakage problems. Over the last year things have really become increasingly back to normal!

That's great news and gives me hope:) As I said my LIS was only two months ago so there's still hope for me. And my leakage isn't that bad anyways. It feels more like my ass somehow relaxes after I've got up and walked a bit. And when I go to wipe again it feel's diffrent. As if something had opened up and I can now clean my self better:P

Hi guys 'i get a little leakage for a while after a bm '
I wipe and dab clean with ets wipes then jump in the tub and hand shower area clean then I wipe to check 'normaly all clean then about and hour or so I feel it needs a wipe again '
I'm 7 months post fistulotomy it involved cutting the internal sphincter and a couple or strands of external sphincter strands my crs said it was all OK y'all with in the continance 'levals 'i don't know whether it is the movicol I take only take about 6 g now so I may introduce a fibre drink to help will eventually hope to stop the movicol '

Hi, try putting a little gauze square there after a bm, it will absorb anything left and after about an hour just throw it away and you should be fine. Sometimes the muscle still tenses during a bm and after it relaxes a little discharge of whatever is left in the area will ooze out or if you have extra skin now stool can get caught behind it and it takes a while to completely come out. I had double advancement flaps and once in a while I'll notice a very small amount of stool. It doesn't happen often but the CRS told me this was normal because of all the new tissue and folds. He said after rectal surgery it can take up to 2 years for things to completely heal and settle down. As long as you have no pain and can hold a bm until you get to a bathroom I wouldn't worry too much. Suzy