As you may have saw in the ref & website sections my mom had this done to her a few years ago now. I am starting to see a lot of you talking about this being done to you so I'd thought I would give you moms perspective.
While for the most part the bag does not give her too many problems nowadays, there have been many times she complained about nagging pain coming from the abominable cut where the stoma and skin connects.
She thinks its just some kinda infection trying to set in whenever she has those pains. Also in her case the procedure was reversible but she opted out mostly she says because of her age of 70+. She says if she were still young and went out a lot she would most likely get a reverse op.
She also noted that she would have never had the procedure if she knew what it all involved-(it was done to her in an emergency under anesthesia due to her busted colon).
Also in her case she never suffered from fissure but she was constipated a lot, hence the suppositories.
Since the bag, she has lost a lot of weight as the bag will make you feel fuller faster (stomach expands, ostomy bag does not.)
So for those wanting the operation to alleviate the pain down there, you may be just bringing it up to the stoma site as I clearly remember it being quite some time before the initial pain around the stoma subsided for my mom.
It's your decision, weigh the pros and cons of it.
HTH GL

Thanks for this advice buttastic.
I understand what you mean by just changing the pain from one place to another, however surely the pain from the stoma site is not going to be as severe as from the shpincter as I was led to believe that this area has so much nerves that that's the reason having an AF is so painful and unrelentless?
However I appreciate your view on it and am certainly looking into the pros and cons myself, although I'm probably wasting my time as I have a feeling it won't be a choice I will be allowed to make. It will be my CRS who will decide and the last one I spoke to in hospital laughed it off. I hope HE gets an AF just for being so unsympathetic!
Thanks again for sharing.

Hey Wendo
To my and possibly your surprise, youtube is full of DIY info on people that went through it. They show you in detail how to change the bag, they give you very insightful views of the ups and downs the pro and cons.
Much of the info you need you should be able to get there and heres a good starting place for you....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9PYMfqNGm0
GL HTH