I too am experiencing leakage this is five months after surgery there is no pain when I make a movement it just leaks a little bit where I have to wear a gauze pad small one after every movement. My CR surgeon thinks that the leakage will stop once it's completely healed but I don't know when it's going to . it's been 5 months he said it was 90% about a month ago but doesn't want to seem to finish healing. He did mention it there is a procedure he could do that would take 5 minutes I would do it on a Friday and go back to work on a Monday but if it's so minor why would
I have to be under anesthesia? I am very leery of having anything else done but at the same time I don't want to go through the rest of my life with a leaking butt. It's not incontinence because
I can hold it until I go it's just afterwards there is some seepage and I have to change my pad out 2 or 3 times a day if I go once. . I'm just wondering if there's any kind of topicals I could use he did try silver nitrate once but it didn't seem to finish it I'm just very very nervous about having to do another procedure down there since the other ones taking forever to heal. I guess the procedure is he would clean out some scar tissue to make it heal faster but I'm not sure it's going to work. I am going to see an immunologist specialist because I was diagnosed with low IGA. to see if that maybe is what's holding up the healing but why would heal at 90% And just stopped healing? I also May seek a second opinion on it before I do anything else. Anyone else have any issues like mine? I really do not want to have any other procedures done, but I also do not want to continue like this. The amount of leakage been about the same for the last 2 months the issue is is that is not getting better and can you guarantee that's going to just stop when it finally heals up?
Thoughts or any help is appreciated thank you

Bumping this for those of us currently dealing with post op leakage. I know it has been many years since the original post, but I'm curious how many of you had this issue resolve (like Bambi did - yay Bambi!) and how many of you are still dealing with it many years later. I'm only 2 months post op and the stool leakage started around week 3/4 for me and has continued daily through the second month. Right now I'm trying psyllium husk pills to see if it helps produce a more formed stool. My surgeon said that daily immodium should fix the problem, but I really don't like the idea of having to take a medication every day for this. Some days it produces minor irritation... and other days (like today) I'm covered in Calmoseptine and still very uncomfortable. I'm very pleased with my healing progress so far and trying to stay positive... but this has definitely been the most trying part of my recovery. Thank you for the gauze pad tip... I'm going to purchase a few today to see if it helps : )

Have you had any luck with the psyllium?
I am almost 6 months out of my LIS surgery, after which I had no stool leakage beyond the first week or 2... but I didn't heal properly and had to have a second surgery, now nearly 4 months ago, and have had leakage after BMs ever since. Sooo frustrating!

Hi Pita. I'm sorry to hear that you are dealing with this, too. Yes, it is sooooo frustrating! What complication happened that you needed a second surgery? I didn't heal properly either and developed a small keyhole groove at the opening of the LIS site which is what is causing the little bit of leakage, but my surgeon doesn't want to surgically correct it at this point.

I'm slowly working with the psyllium to see which dosage (if any) produces results. I'm trying the 500 mg pills. I'm taking two in the morning before breakfast and my liquid stools have shifted to soft formed so yes, I am seeing a little improvement. The recommended dosage is much higher, but I have heard too much fiber can cause stomach discomfort. The gauze pad trick has really helped me with the skin irritation. I tuck it between the cheeks after my morning BM & shower for about an hour and it catches the majority of the residual leakage after BM. Some days that's all I need to do and other days I have to swap them out a few times. I also carry a mini travel boss bidet that I found on amazon (basically a purse sized water sprayer) which keeps my bum happy when I don't have access to a shower. Keep us posted on your recovery. I really hope that we have all moved past this complication after another 3-6 months of healing has passed.

I have unfortunately not been very lucky with this whole process. At week 4 after LIS, I started to have a ton of stinging, burning, and pain at my incision site... had my husband take a look for me and there was a new, small bump in the area. Went to see my CRS and it turned out it was excess granulation tissue. Granulation tissue is necessary to heal a wound, but (for some reason) my body produced an excess amount of it, which grew out and pushed the healing wound open. My CRS cauterized it in the office with silver nitrate, which was extremely painful, took a few weeks to heal, but was successful.

I thought I was on the right road after that until week 8 when, out of the blue, I had a TON of bleeding with a perfectly easy and soft BM... like more bleeding than I'd had even immediately after surgery. Went back to the CRS and she did a scope... turns out I had excess granulation tissue growing internally too, and the only way to address that was a second surgery to "scrape and clean" the wound. I was devastated to need another procedure... especially at 10 weeks out of a surgery I was told I'd need 6-8 weeks to recover from.

Luckily the procedure was successful and my surgical wounds have finally healed. My fissure is healed. But I still have a lot of pain/discomfort in the area and cannot sit comfortably... and of course this leakage nonsense. I asked my surgeon about it, especially because I didn't have leakage after the first surgery, and she basically shrugged and said she didn't cut any more of the muscle, so she didn't know why it happened... and had no answers about the continuing pain I have. I've been referred to pelvic floor therapy and am hoping that will help with these issues.

It's been a miserable year to say the least. I'm in my 30s, healthy, active, with no other health conditions and was planning to try for a baby this year. Then this all just came out of the blue and screwed everything up!

I may try psyllium too, slowly. I'm desperate for some improvement, although I'm starting to think time is the only real answer here. I need to get one of those travel bidets. Having a bidet at home has been a life saver, but I could really benefit from having one on the go!

How are you feeling, other than the leakage?

Wow. I am so sorry you had to have a second procedure so soon after LIS. I can't imagine. This recovery has not been linear for me either... so many ups and downs and it seems like each week brings up something new to deal with. I'm feeling about 85 percent I'd say. Working hard on trying to keep my IBS and BMs in check. Doc said I should be fully healed in another 3 months. My LIS side is still sore and gives me some difficulty at times, but I feel a slow improvement each week. The leakage is now the main frustration because it is a daily consideration and requires a bit of planning. I'm slowly adjusting. I'm in my 30s too and healthy and the leakage has been so frustrating that I haven't gotten back to cardio or hiking yet because I just don't want to deal with the skin irritation. Hoping this gradually improves for us both. Let me know how pelvic floor therapy goes. I'm considering that, as well. Cheers!

I miss cardio and hiking too! Hopefully we'll be able to get back to it all soon.

I've been using a barrier cream for the leakage on days when I can't do constant clean-up. Calmoseptine works really well for this, or even just regular Vaseline. I do keep Balneol in my purse for random clean-ups too.

I'm glad you're feeling steady improvement otherwise. I will let you know about the pelvic floor therapy. I'm nervous about it, but willing to do anything to get rid of this pain and leakage.

You are probably leaking because you’re not completely emptying your bowel.

I have this problem if my diet is too high in protein or too low in fiber. The former makes stool more dense and difficult to pass. Fiber makes things soft yet firm. If I have enough fiber in my diet (I take Metamucil still), everything passes very easily and there’s very little to clean up. It also means I’m usually only having one BM a day.

As a suggestion, I eventually started wearing period panties as my everyday underwear. There’s a barrier in back that at least keeps stuff off your pants, including any ointments. The lidocaine was staining everything I wore no matter how carefully I put in on. And yes, I’m a man. A pair of 3XL fit fine, and they’re pretty darn comfy, too. I keep wearing them now because they’re are so comfortable and because they also keep any dribbles from my prostate struggles off my pants.

Thank you for your tips, Ryan! I agree with you that the leakage happens when the bowel isn't fully emptied. Fiber pills have really helped to bulk things up for me so I think psyllium will be a permanent addition to my daily routine. Cheers!

Tight80 how are you feeling now? How is the leakage?