https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5479997/

"Anal self-massage in the treatment of acute anal fissure: a randomized prospective study."

I did a search but didn't see a post about this paper yet.

I've been self dilating for 3 1/2 years, with good results. However, I dislike using dilators for a few reasons: they take time and are finicky to use, they always feel a bit dangerous, especially at the larger (27-30mm) diameters, and they're hard to travel with.

I've used my finger before, but it didn't occur to me that using a circular motion could possibly give better results than static dilators. If so, this would solve most of my complaints above, and I could still use dilators occasionally. The experiment was strictly with acute fissures, but I don't see why it wouldn't apply to chronic ones as well.

Thought this might be useful to others. Anecdotally, has anyone done this longer term (1+ years) and found it gave good results? I've started a few days ago, in addition to regular dilation.

I do that. Put some ointment to dilator and then gently put it one inch deep. Most fussures are that deep. No need to go deeper. It takes time to see results but after a week i'notice a 20% less pain. Maybe because helps blood circulation and helps muscles to relax.

Thanks for the link! It was very informative. Have you been using the Dilatan dilators for the past few years?