Hello all,

This is kind of a technical question but I'm hoping someone can shed some light for me...

I have a chronic but possibly healing fissure as well as some mostly healed hemorrhoids. I recently asked my doctor if my hemorrhoid cream, which contains a vasoconstrictor, and my nifedipine cream, which I think increases blood flow, were working against each other. She agreed that they were and advised me to take Calmol 4 instead of the hemorrhoid cream and said it would help my fissure as well.

Now that I actually have the Calmol 4, I see that it contains an astringent, which decreases blood flow and narrows blood vessels. Since so much of what we fissure sufferers do is meant to increase blood flow (sitz baths, magnesium, nifedipine, etc.), it seems like taking an astringent is a bad idea. But I've looked at a lot of past threads and people always seem to speak positively about Calmol 4.

Can anyone explain this? Should I use the Calmol?

At this point I don't really need to take anything for my hemorrhoids, but I'm very interested in doing anything I can to help my fissure. I had botox a little over a month ago, so if it doesn't heal in the next two months my only other option will be LIS.