I’ve had this fissure for 15 months. I had Botox about 12 months ago, and that allowed the fissure to heal for a time. I’ve aggravated it three times since, but thankfully the pain was never like it was the first time (had to work from home for 3 weeks).

After this last re-injury, I decided to see the surgeon again, and he confirmed the fissure is visible and chronic.

Right now I’m virtually pain free. I’m choosing to have LIS done because I know I’ll likely reinjure it again no matter what some time in the next several weeks or months. Seems to happen every 90 days or so.

The surgery is about two weeks from now.

I already take a large fiber supplement daily, and my BMs have been easy and require little to no effort. I go one to three times a day.

I bought a donut pillow and had a bidet installed on my toilet. I’ve got extra lidocaine.

Is there anything else I should do to prepare?

Any advice on what I should anticipate in terms of pain, recovery, and time until I can return to normal activity and work?

32 year old male, if that changes anyone’s advice.

Can you take the donut cushion back? They're known to cause hemorrhoids, and I'm sure that's the last thing you want. I used a couch cushion on my computer chair and that worked really well.

Good luck with the surgery. I'm sure that you'll do really well.

I'm in the same boat, surgery scheduled for end of April. Trying to be optimistic but of course I'm having anxiety over it.