When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Incision from LIS not healing

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When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Postby Bags » 03 Sep 2015, 19:37

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on the message boards. I am currently serving overseas as a Peace Corps Volunteer. While in site, I suffered from a chronic anal fissure for almost 7 months. I had tried all the prescribed creams/change of diet/fiber supplements/stool softeners, etc., and they didn't work for me so I was medically evacuated to the US for examination. My surgeon recommended LIS and I had the surgery done on May 11. The surgery went well and my fissure healed after a few weeks. I was medically cleared to return to service, even though the entire healing process had not finished. And by the entire healing process, I mean the incision that was made during the LIS. I still continue to have blood, drainage and a general uncomfortable feeling at the site of the incision, despite my actual fissure being healed. I had pain a couple of weeks ago that reminded me of fissure pain, but that went away. Now, I am not experiencing pain or incontinence of stool, but the small amounts of blood with my BMs and the drainage make me worry that my incision is not healing.

When I originally signed on for the surgery, I was told that it would take 6-8 weeks to heal, yet some people take longer. With now being 4 months out, I'm just wondering if it's normal to still not be completely healed. Has anyone else had similar experiences but eventually healed? Sometimes I worry that things will never be normal again and the incision will never heal. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bags
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Re: When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Postby msimon » 03 Sep 2015, 22:05

Hi Bags. Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear you are still not healed. I had a similar experience but with my pain increasing and a notable swelling around my incision site. I ended up with an abscess and as it went untreated over the Christmas break it started to form a fistula (a sinus/tract) and had to have a second surgery to sort that out. When was the last time you saw your surgeon? Can you describe your drainage (colour, consistency, smell)? Is the area painful?
Dec '13 Fissure from anoscope
3 X internal sphincter botox
'08-'15 Botox for pelvic floor dysfunction
Nov '14 LIS/sentinel tag removal
Feb '15 Deroofing of recurrent infection from LIS
summer '15-healed but still ongoing muscle dysfunction/pain
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Re: When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Postby Ohio » 04 Apr 2016, 18:46

How long did it take your incision site to heal?
Look at my post from earlier today if u get a chance.
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Re: When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Postby caf1988 » 16 Jun 2016, 20:19

Hello I just finished antibiotics for some weird discharge and pain 2 months out. I feel worse than right after the surgery. He didn't see an abscess - could he have missed it? How is the abscess diagnosed? The pain is sore and stinging but not excruciating.
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Re: When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Postby Ohio » 16 Jun 2016, 20:23

Sure he could have.
My surgical site got infected...which is basically n abscess...which then created a fistula.
Make sure your using a colon rectal surgeon...not a general surgeon.
Do your homework & find a good one too.
I switched doctors & had new one do my fistulotomy.
He knew he stuff big time.
Best decision I made.
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Re: When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Postby caf1988 » 16 Jun 2016, 20:52

My surgeon is a crs and has been a well reviewed one for years..I'm not sure why he isn't catching it- could an abcess only hurt at times though? It will hurt so much then be completely fine for 3 days and cycle. Did you get any better tests done? I might request an ultra sound or MRI or CT for the area. It's more of a dull constant pain but it does go away sometimes. I just want this nightmare to end.
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Re: When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Postby Ohio » 16 Jun 2016, 21:09

Suppose anything is possible.
U might have a fistula.
No tests.
Mine would feel ok...then bad like that.
Gen surgeon just kept telling me I was slow to heal & couldn't really figure things out.
Switched to real good crs. He took one look at me & knew exactly what it was.
He didn't even do a digital...just looked at it.
I was like how u know from just looking...he said experience.
Turns out he was right.
He takes pictures during surgery. Then showed em to me n my follow up post op.
So I know exactly what I looked like before, during & after the fistultomy.
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Re: When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Postby caf1988 » 16 Jun 2016, 21:24

thank you ~ i think I will try to get another opinion. I hope I can avoid more surgeries, but I just want to be better so I can get on with my life. like the area around the right side of my external sphincter, the side of the incision is painful and swollen but the incision itself isn't that bad. did you have any other symptoms? how was fistultomy procedure and recovery compared to LIS?
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Re: When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Postby Ohio » 16 Jun 2016, 21:38

Symptoms...leakage (yellow, blood & brown)...more prominent closer to bm. Painful sometimes...other times none.
Fistula was kinda like a leaking pimple bout an inch from incision site on my butt check.
Fistulotomy op got twilight anesthetic...not full general...sore like LIS...maybe little less...1st couple bm hurt pretty good...but overall felt better immediately.
Would say similar to LIS (a normal LIS if I would a had one).
I'm 5 weeks post op & only thing I deal with is leakage.
It's not as much as I was getting fistula...crs said I'll prolly leak for bout 3 months post op.
No bleeding...no pain...just leakage...it's yellow only.
Crs looked at me 3 weeks post op & said I was healing perfectly.
He even showed me a pic so I could how much it healed since op.
Aside from leakage only thing I got is upset stomach from anxiety...cuz I worry too much.
I wouldn't worry so much if I didn't have a complication from LIS.
Looking forward to bent 100% someday soon :)
July it'll b 1 full year since this 1st started...so I'm ready! Lol
Hope this helps u.
I know it helped me to know I wasn't the only one with these type of problems.
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Re: When will my incision heal? 4 months post LIS

Postby caf1988 » 16 Jun 2016, 21:44

thanks for the info. i'm inbetween jobs and have been trying to move outta state/ country for a while (was travelling while this AF happened ugh) so i'm eager to be cured enough to at least get on a plane and start a job elsewhere. Leaking I could deal with. I'm not even 30 yet and I have ALL these issues from AF and I eat very carefully and healthy and used to be quite active. I feel sometimes like I have some huge overlying issue causing this. I rested 3 weeks post LIS and did sitz bath only was VERY careful so idk how I got a possible abscess. no pimple thing so maybe no fistula. I think the ones from LIS are superficial so that's good. thanks for the reassurance. I'm not really scared of any surgeries at this point, just of the recovery time - like you said the anxiety and depression from it is the worst part IMO.
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