Pgre , I've healed all my fissures treating them at home. The longest one took 7 months, but it did heal. This present one is almost healed, I had it since last Nov. I'm using self dilation with success. :D

Baba,
That's so encouraging.
How did you heal the fissure that lasted for 7 months? I've also had my fissure since last Nov. Do you think it would be ok to start self dilation while the fissure still bleeds or should I wait until it stops bleeding, if it ever does?
As I read in another post it would be best to start with a finger,right?
Thanks

The one that lasted 7 months - I had a "Lord's stretch" done, that's a manual dilation under anesthesia. The good effects from that lasted only two weeks, and I was back to pain. Three months later I was booked for surgery to scrape the fissure, but it was healed just before the surgery date, thankfully. But from the good (though brief) effect of the dilation I know that dilation works.
I wouldn't use self dilation while the fissure was bleeding - I waited till healing was started before I attempted it. The key is to start very slowly and carefully - first do no harm!
Before I started SD I noticed that massaging inside the passage with a lubricated gloved finger brought some relief from the painful spasms.

Hi pgre
When I first got my fissure I wanted to heal it naturally and it actually appeared to go away for 6 months, then it came back a year later real bad. I've read that it is more likely to heal if you've had it for under 6 weeks. You may well be able to heal without medical intervention and I hope you do. The key is to get the sphincter to relax and keep stools soft. For me looking back on things now I wish I'd sought out medical intervention sooner so my fissure didnt get as bad as it did and in the UK where I am it takes so long to get seen there is lots of time to try and heal it once the referral gets rolling.