Has anyone got an anterior fissure (one closest to your vagina rather than your spine)?
Thats where my fissure is, with a massive skin tag underneath. My GP told me when I went to see her today that I need to call the hospital and push to get an appointment as the fissure has got much deeper and she thinks I need to get it operated on. She's recommended that I get the skin tag and fissure cut out (fissurectomy) and then do what my CRS recommended, which is to get a stretch rather than LIS. (reason being that he believes LIS is too risky on girls my age)
I told her I was really worried about the stretch and she said that it was fine in the right hands and that the CRS was a renowned expert so I could trust his opinion. Having done a bit more reading I'm starting to think that the reason he's suggested this procedure over LIS is not so much that I am a girl but that I'm a girl and have my fissure anteriorly. There's not as much sphincter muscle there apparently so it's much easier to render someone incontinent.
So my question is, has anyone (particularly any ladies) had a fissure in that position that has been operated on or is going to be operated on? And if so what has your doctor suggested you have done?

not a women...but so info on an AD.....
http://anal-fissure.org/t3936-thinking-of-a-lisread-this-first
http://anal-fissure.org/t4052-the-strenght-to-carry-on

Hey Layla,
My fissure was towards the spine. I believe it's pretty common for women to get them towards the front though... The LIS cut is usually made on the right or left side of the anus no matter where the fissure is located. More commonly the left from what I've read on here. I really don't see why the location of your fissure increase your chances of incontinence with surgery. As far as I know the LIS incision is what makes that a risk... If the cut is too much then that would be the risk that would cause the muscle to be too loose... I've never heard that the location of the fissure would be a risk that could cause incontinence- with the surgery
I would definitely ask a lot of questions before I let anyone do the AD (stretch) on me. Perhaps even get a second opinion if possible. If it's the old school procedure then I would definitely not have it done. There was a much higher risk of incontinence with that procedure.

Thank you both for your replies :)
Wecc I read your thread about AD and that's really interesting. The doctor I have is the senior consultant at y hospital, has been practising for years and is definitely top of his field so I do trust him but am still scared about it, as I've heard so many horror stories.
My worry is that I really think I need a fissurectomy (this was something my GP and not my CRS advised). The skin tag is really swollen and angry and after a year I must have so much scar tissue that healing after AD is going to be difficult. Are both procedures something that can be performed together do you think? Dawn have you ever heard of that being done to anyone on this forum?
I'm also super worried that due to where my fissure is, cutting it or the skin tag out will be far too risky because there's less sphincter muscle. I wish everything didn't have to be so complicated :roll:
Thanks once again guys and hope you're enjoying Christmas

The description of “cut out” is a little drastic for a fissurectomy. The goal is to refresh the tissue to help healing after releasing some pressure from the sphincter muscle. My CRS described it as scraping the scar tissue away. Others have had the fissure cauterized which is serving the same purpose of refreshing the area and removing scar tissue.
I had two fissures anterior and posterior along with a skin tag. I had the skin tag removed along with 2 fissurectomies when I had a LIS. Basically, the more you have done - the recovery is going to be longer and more tedious.
I would also be very cautious on the stretch. The method posted by Wecc sounds interesting and appears to be a very controlled procedure. The old method sounded barbaric and carries way to many risks. These are just my opinions on what I have read through the years. Hopefully, when you see your CRS he can give you good insight into his methods.

Thanks for your reply Paul. Yeah cutting out probably does make it sound a little vicious in hindsight! I kind of imagined them taking out this massive pound of flesh eeeek. Glad the reality is different. Although if they take out this flipping skin tag then frankly they can cut out as much as they like!
I am super worried about the stretch if it's done in the old way. Although I'm hoping they just wouldn't practice it at this hospital. It's one of the bigger ones in London and has a very good rep so I hope their way of doing it is one that Wecc described.

First and foremost, I would never, ever have an AD the way it use to be done. With that said, this is not anything like the old way where a CRS puts his fingers in your butt and tries to pull it apart like a tug of war…screw that! This is where the problem came from and why AD’s received such a bad rap.
With a standardized AD, that not the case at all. The CRS that is doing this next week is using for a better lack of words, a VERY big dildo. In Germany and Japan, they utilize a balloon with great success. For some reason, a balloon sounds a lot better to me. By the way…my wife is just having so much fun with this..way too much!!!
In fact as I said in my last post, some of these doctors went to LIS’s than to return back to a standardized AD simply because of so much less compactions. I was all set to get an LIS till I research and found this. Again what made me go forward with this rather than a LIS is all this CRS post patients I met.
Regards, I am a few days out and a bit nervous. By the way, the CRS told me he might aslo do a fissurectomy, which from what i understand is really only cauterizing the open fissure wound.
Have an outstanding New Years and god bless!

I'm late in seeing this thread, but I have to say my (main) fissure was towards the vagina. I developed it after giving birth, and so that makes it an even more common location (for a woman who's just had a baby).
Still had the LIS, the fissure location didn't seem to matter, they made the cut off to the side but closer to the spine. I am not incontinent in the least.

Hey Layla, I too have the fissure is the same location as you said.. anterior with a skin tag. My CRS is not recommending LIS for me because she thinks I am young (26) and didn't have any baby yet.What my CRS recommends is to get Botox with skin tag removal as the skin tag completely covers up my fissure and might not be giving it any chance to heal. I was on nitro for more than 6 weeks and I should say that I was totally painless for 2 months. then one fine morning the monster returned with no particular reason that I could remember and got into my head for another week. After that again not much pain.. But it is still there I know. I am going for Botox with skin tag removal. My CRS said that LIS is not recommended for young ladies because the chances of re-tearing that area during a child birth is high.