I should have told you NOT to look. After my rectal surgeries my doctor said not to bother looking because it will look worse before it looks better. Well, my husband took a picture and I saw it and felt sick to my stomach! Because that area is so traumatized from surgery you will have redness, swelling and discharge. Plus you had another procedure on top of the LIS. When is your follow-up?
I am sure it looks normal having gone through what you did. I can show you a picture of my butt after sugery if you want to be really scared. It's like giving birth I think, it just isn't going to be a pretty picture.

Lecia -
I wish I never would have looked. My bum looked good before surgery besides the fissure scar - really it did! No tags or anything! I just thought it would be a good idea to look because Fiss brought up the point about looking for an infection. I am just so scared now.
Jen

Oh Jen
Don’t get freaked try not to worry you have been feeling good and that accounts for a lot !
The area is going to be swollen, bruised and irritated in some places more than others that’s for sure !
My guess is the 12oclock cut you are seeing must be the LIS , but i am no expert
Did they put any stitch’s in this area ? do you have any antibiotics and can you get any for a precaution ?
If you are still worried could phone your doc and tell him what you have seen ??
Big hug Jen
:truebud:

Jen,
Maybe you should phone your doc. You need to NOT worry to facilitate your healing process (easier said than done I know because you and I are both worry warts).
Cheryl

don't worry about what it looks like!!! of course it's gonna look horrible, you're less than a week out from a major anal surgery. even though it looked fine before, you were in pain and the point of this was to fix that. give it some time, it'll go back to looking normal (minus the pain this time!) i completely freaked myself out looking down there after my other surgeries, it only added to my anxiety. that can't help the healing process. focus more on how things feel down there, if you're worried about infection. if it's infected you're not gonna see it before you feel it. earlier you said you felt fantastic! don't let the looks of it bring you down.

Thanks guys! I should have never looked! Ahhhh! Why did I do that????? I am so dumb sometimes! If anyone is considering getting LIS - Take my warning and do not look down there for a Looooooong time after surgery!
I have a few questions for the LISers -
1. Did you feel like you had swelling down there? I feel like I have a piece of paper in between my butt or a small ball. Do you all ever remember feeling this???
2. How long did you bleed for?
3. Did you guys ever sit on a heating pad? I don't know if that would make it worse or better?
4. Did anyone attempt to look at the incsicion? I think mine is in a weird place. It looks like it is on my posterior end compared to ware it is supposed to be (laterally) It actually looks like I have the worlds largest fissure on that end (the opposite end of where my original fiisure was) I can only assume this is not a fissure and is the incision. Maybe with the swelling, it looks dislocated. It is still oozing blood.

Oh dear Jen - I hate telling you that I looked at my butt - I wish I never posted the video or said anything about looking :flush: - I caused more trouble than I ever could dream of and I wish I can take a day in reverse and erase all my posts :( :( :( . I just went by the saying that " a picture is worth a thousand words" and wanted to de vail the "mystery" about the cut and all . Looking at my butt helped me very much - I was not freaked at all and sometimes after soaking I would discover that some discharge is still lingering and would take a q-tip and clean area really well. There was swelling and the most weird skin tag formed with visible cut - that was a place where fissurectomy was performed. My lateral incision was closed in 2 days but it stopped drainage too soon in my opinion - blood had nowhere to go and was pooling in my skin tags that were like 20 times larger than original tiny skin folds that where there before. Before the LIS my skin tags were hardly noticeable , maybe 2mm in size !!!! LIS and fissurectomy definitely made them monsters of what they are now! Many members had skin tags enlarged after the LIS so it is not unusual at all !
I was told that ALL swelling is normal for 2 weeks , so don't panic , dear buddy - it is absolutely normal ! Actually , you will know your final status about it all in 6-8 weeks !!! I had discharge for 2 weeks I think. It was less and less every day until it completely stopped. Juney is also right - infection hurts like hell, so do not worry about that now - really - no reason what so ever !!! You are just 2 days out of anal surgery and it would be just impossible to not have discharge, swelling and some pain and burning - really Jen - you know that I never fold things in pink paper - I always say what I mean and know ! So, I am not saying this just to calm you down it is like that !!! You felt great and you should continue what you were doing and don't ever put a date on your healing - we are all different and if your swelling is there for 2 weeks and somebody had it for one week - that does not mean anything at all ! You will be experiencing ALL kinds of weird feelings there - pains, burnings, shooting pains, dull pains, tail pains, feeling that something is "there" , I mean, LOL, we all had all kind of "feelings" in our butts , but it will all go away in no time buddy - just relax and enjoy your free time and 5 star treatment !!!
Happy healing

Dear Jen
Listen to those who have had LIS, it is supposed to look bad - they have done surgery on you sweetie. Of course it must be swollen..., but I do understand you. I freaked out a bit after the Botox (which is nothing compared to LIS). My butt was bruised, blue and swollen, and my underwear was bloody.
Take care, Corsica
A question to those of you who have had LIS: Is it wise to sit after LIS? One would think that the painkillers take away the pain so that when you sit you can't feel the pain = the signals the body sends you....
(hope you understand my question, bad English today, stressed out - leaving for Botox soon)

:( Jen, sweetie, please dont stress out about it, surgery ALWAYS causes swelling, bruising and bleeding, it really doesnt mean anything is wrong.
I am so freaked out with blood, and so squeamish that even if I'd been paid thousands, I STILL wouldn't have looked at mine after surgery! But our Fissy is very brave and went where angels fear to tread - which was the right decision for her, because she knew that she wanted to see it and could handle the consequences. Dont feel bad, dear Fissy, we can all only post our own experiences, good OR bad - there is no right or wrong, only a personal opinion.
But Jen, you said you felt much better - thats the true indicator- not what it looks like. If you're worried about infection, just have more salty baths, and if it starts to feel bad, then is the time to worry.
Mine bled for about 2 - 3 weeks, getting less all the time.
It did feel swollen for quite a while.
Personally, I dont think a heating pad is a good idea, it could encourage infection?
Lastly - calm down, and stop looking at it!!! :D
Good luck with the botox today Corsi! I wasnt able to sit directly on the wound after LIS - I wouldn't think it advisable to have pressure on a healing wound - but I dont know if you should or not, its just my opinion.

i did look down there and i was completely swollen after both surgeries. i think that's normal. especially for the first couple weeks
i bled a little during BMs for the first few days i think. i don't quite remember. nothing that ever alarmed me.
i just plain didn't sit down for 2 weeks. i laid on my stomach or on my side w/ a pillow between my knees. i watched A LOT of tv and read soo many books during that time. i plan on doing the same after my next surgery in sept. pain pills can make you more comfortable, but can also make you forget that you just had surgery and shouldn't be doing certain things. i wouldn't sit for extended periods of time.
i dont' even know what everyone means by an "incision". i didn't have anything like that, that i could see. so i have no idea. i had an open bloody wound for 3 or 4 weeks, where my skin tag was removed during the 1st surgery. but i never saw any incision either time.
other than that little input, i'm not a good person to talk about LIS, as it didn't work at all for me.