Had a fissure that started sept and is now pretty manageable on its way to healing with only a minor retear that is Getting better. However since I had some mucus and some itching I went back to CRS and sure enough I have a very supperficial fistula which I thought might just be a sentinel pile but looked more like a small pimple. Anyway thankfully he said it is so superficial that he wants to do just a local anesthesia procedure and fix it in office. I am relieved as I have not had surgery and I would rather avoid.
Anyway can you guys tell me what to expect?! Am I going to be in as much pain as with the fresh fissure?
Hoping this will be the answer as I feel the fissure is pretty healed and the slight discomfort now comes from this. Ugh!

Hi RW,
Providing all goes well and the diagnosis is exactly what your CRS anticipated, I can honestly reassure you that fixing the fistula will be no where near as bad as your fears of the original fissure pain!
If the fistula is superficial, it can be easily remedied and treated but must be done so medically as they do not just clear up by themselves as much as we wish them to!........
Discomfort is usual with a fistula, fortunately major pain is not!! (not generally in superficial cases anyway)
Whatever you go through now, should be in no way anywhere near as painful as that horrible original fissure pain and it sounds like this has all been caught and diagnosed really quickly for you, so all being well, the treatment and your recovery should be pretty minor for you. If you've suffered the original agony of fresh fissure pain, then this should be more a walk in the park for you! I truly hope so.
Just expect a little discomfort for a little longer whilst the issue is treated and heals and in a few weeks, you should be feeling a whole lot better :)!
This is exactly what I went through and the fistula was truly the least of my worries. I now have no evidence that I ever had a fistula, sadly, unlike the fissure, where to this day, I still get reminders now & again that I had it!!!! (2 years "healed" now)..........but nothing is as bad as it ever was, so really not complaining!!
Wishing you all the very best - the sooner it's treated, the better, and you sound like you are at a great stage now in being able to deal with this all and move on.......
Wishing you huge recovery in 2014 :)

Well thank goodness! It is really small even I can tell that more like a small pimple than anything else. At first I thought it was a sentinel tag Anyway it is so good to hear that this should not set me back to the pain levels I had at first. I appreciate your input evertheoptimist! I will let you know how it goes :) I have it scheduled for a Friday 2-3 weeks for now so the worst probably can pass over the weekend when I have help from my husband.

Hi RW,
Mine also looked a bit like a pimple, only the fact it leaked pus constantly made me realise pretty quickly, it was more than just a spot and I'd had an abscess close to it that burst a few weeks prior, so I was pretty much armed & ready to deal with it very quickly!
The procedure was a simple Fistulomy, it took 20 minutes and you are pretty much left with a bit of a red "groove" in the area where they take off the top of "pimple" or de-roof it and remove any nasty stuff. It then just heals over within a few weeks. The key to good healing is just keeping the wound clean & dry and keeping your BMs soft to make sure you don't put any excess pressure on the healing area but it doesn't take too long and it really isn't painful, just a bit uncomfortable for the first couple of weeks (Nothing major!)
I wish you all the best with the forthcoming procedure and try not to worry too much about it too. It'll be OK.
I look forward to your updates! :)

Well my surgery is tomorrow - under local anesthesia. Slightly uneasy about the whole thing but lets hope for the best!

Here's rooting for you, rw.
You'll be fine........good luck and take care of yourself.

Thanks Scientist! Thankfully the fissure seems to be totally healed - zero pain now for weeks. The small fistula is not really bothersome other than slight bleeding (dots) every once in a while and some discomfort every once in a while but might as well take care of it before it becomes a bigger monster.
It is under local anesthesia at the doctor's office so hopefully the whole shot is the worst part. Surely it won't be as bad to heal as the fissure was at its angriest!

Done with the surgery! The worst part by far were the shots and they were pretty bad I am not going to lie - I kind of saw stars and was not prepared for the fact that there would be 5 shots not just one! Yikes! But it is over and that was just probably half a minute of pain. I am still numb - starting to feel it and it feels like a burn. They did give me pain meds - we will see if they are needed. The CRS said that my fissure looks great and looks healed. Hopefully taking care of the fistula means I am on the road to putting all these behind me. I know fissures are on going issues though but still glad that is finally doing well.

I took two pain killers yesterday - initially after the procedure and for a few hours I felt a burning sensation in the area. Went to sleep and this morning - nothing. ZERO pain. My fistula was extremely small. I am hoping everything is healing properly. I will take a bath AM and PM but right now this is so easy and painless I am afraid something is wrong.

This sounds great, rw!
Congratulations, it sounds as though you are really on the mend. Fantastic news.