ravians hey there, I also have a large sentinel pile that can get soo big it will cover the entire anal opening and when is swollen it feels like a thrombosed hem, but when my fissure is better the pile just shrink back into nothing but stretched skin.
My CRS told me the same as your doctor told you, that they are just skin and he would not touch them if I decide to have LIS.
A sentinel pile is at the end of your fissure, that is why it will feel like reaping the fissure when you touch it as the other end of it could be the part of the fissure that is deep.
TearingPain anal and colon cancer are different from hems, one of the signs of cancer is a hard and not so painful lump in the anal canal, blood will be dark and sometimes coagulated if is colon cancer, while hems and fissures bleed fresh red blood that can be seen on the stools the toilet paper or the toilet water, fistulas and abcesses can be also painful and will bleed.
A check of the anal canal or colonoscopy will give a proper diagnostic.
I know how stressing it is to have anal pain from fissures or hems, bleeding and worry that it could be cancer, my doctor reassure me many times that it was just a fissure.

sorry to hear that u r in pain tearing pain. ur MD must b right. cz it's not difficult to distinguish skin tag from thrombosed hem. skin tags r usually pinkish in color n very small in size as compared to thrombosed hem. thrombosed hem are usually purple or violet in color n when u touch it, they r like bunch of grapes. moreover, thrombosed hem r prolapsed rectum wall that come out of anus whereasskin tag is swollen skin on the outer rim of anus. so be sure that MD has rightly diagnosed it.
if u can take picture of it I hope u can yourself tell that it hem not skin tag. as far as ur fissure is concern u may b right about it that u may have fissure also which I pray not for u.
but despite all this info I would force u to go n c ur Dr. for proper diagnosis of every thing. my mother had this type of hem she got it operated cz she was quite in pain around 10 years back.n my brother too have the same but it's not creating any problem for him.
remember treatment of fissure n thrombosed hem is different so get a professional advice. wish u Healthy life.

marg6043
sorry to hear about ur trouble. how is fissure now,,,,, sleeping or awake

ravians, is been 11 months since my fissure was diagnosed, I spend many nights just lying in the sofa waiting for the spams and pain to subside.
Now with trial and error on how to deal with it, I can pretty much predict when I will have a flare up, now is more about irritation than pain.
My resent flare up is lasting longer than expected. But I have app with my CRSJune 10, he wants to perform surgery but I am not hurting bad enough to really want it, even when sometimes I feel frustrated with the set backs.

my strongest suggestion to my dear fissure fellow MARG is to go for surgery as pain related to it is far less than fissure pain n hopefully u will b one of those who got rid of fissure after lis.
it's far far better to go for lis rather than waiting for fissure to heal. postponing surgery may lead to complications like fistula, scar tissue n more fissures n mental social n psychological problems.
even if after fissure doest go completely at least it does not cause this much trouble n easy to heal .
after complications surgery is tough recovery is tough n healing is tough.
don't even think of sayn no ti surgery. it's just baseless fear, this surgery is quite minor one. just select a gud crs n take v gud care post op n keep praying to our Creator.

Marg,
I'm sorry to read you are still experiencing the ongoing spasms and pain and it will be good for you to see your CRS soon to get an updated opinion on what you might need to do next. I too have a CRS appointment this week, so have lots of questions.
I do not have the continuing spasms and pain as you describe and did not at 11 months. I was greatly healed but if I had I would not have hesitated to seek further advice on what to do next.
I'm not convinced that LIS is the way to go if you are healing well, albeit slowly naturally, and I'm sure that waiting to heal does not necessarily lead to more fissures and certainly not fistulas as this is generally a totally (unrelated) different issue. You can not argue however that it does not prolong the stress of it all!....
I wouldn't dismiss LIS if that was my best way of healing but you need to do what YOU feel is best and based on the advice and options offered to you by your CRS.
There are always possibly set backs with any recovery ( I understand all too well!) but if you are generally pain-free and comfortable and mentally prepared to heal naturally, then do what you need to do. Obviously don't suffer though -
Wishing you well and please update after your appointment

ravians, thanks ravians, you are right about everything you posted, is more about fear to the surgery than anything else, even when my CRS is a great and experience doctor.