im glad it worked for you, just dont mess up, stick to your diet and you should be fine.

I did not have success with the dilation. For a while I managed to not have any fissures. I still had discomfort when I had a bm, but not like an af. I went and seen my CRS last week and he was not impressed with the progress (or lack there of) that I had made. He told me that surgery was optional and I could live my life going through the cycle I was stuck in, an af with skin tags developing and then be somewhat ok for a while then repeat. I choose to schedule surgery as I used to be an active person and this has curtailed my active life style.
Then Sunday I ended up having 3 bms and have been in agony ever since. My af has re-torn and I have another new skin tag forming, and I think the skin tags forming is about as painful as the af.
Stay on the diet and keep up with the Miralax.

Sorry it didn't work for you, so far I have been fine. Did have a similar pattern to you where I tore, healed, tore sometimes with 6 months to a year between tears.
I am off the softener but I make sure I eat loads of veggies, not a problem as I love veg anyway.
Hope things go well with the surgery, fingers crossed for you! :)

Quick update:
Went for check up and the surgeon is really pleased with my progress, he is especially pleased because he was concerned that as I was one of the tightest he'd done he was a little concerned that the results would be poor.
Now completely off the meds, eating normally, even red meat or dairy products not causing a problem.
He did warn me however that it is possible for the stretch to heal back a bit and become a little tight. But a mild stretch again would probably sort things out ok given the way I have responded to the procedure.

Good for you, Del!!

hi del, hope you are healing well. Did your doctor do manual dilation- or used another method ? TP

Great to read of others who have had dilation, and gone off to greener pastures after healing. Good to know that there are alternatives.
Maybe, in a few years, CRSs will offer Standardized Anal Dilatation in the US, as they do in Germany and Japan, just as examples.

Sacaici,
Dilation is not something new and has in the past been available in both the US and the UK but due to increased incontinence risks its no longer really the procedure of choice.
The information below is taken from Wikpedia,
"Anal dilation, or stretching of the anal canal (Lord's operation) has fallen out of favour in recent years, primarily due to the perceived unacceptably high incidence of fecal incontinence. In addition, anal stretching can increase the rate of flatus incontinence.
In the early 1990s, however, a repeatable method of anal dilation proved to be very effective and showed a very low incidence of side effects. Since then, at least one other controlled, randomized study has shown there to be little difference in healing rates and complications between controlled anal dilation and LIS, while another has again shown high success rates with anal dilation coupled with low incidence of side effects."

Hi Davo,
I realise that dilation (as in Lord's) is not a new method. Neither is LIS, for that matter.
However, as you have quoted yourself from Wikipedia:
'a repeatable method of anal dilation proved to be very effective' - not Lord's - 'and showed a very low incidence of side effects'
And, following on that:
'a controlled, randomized study has shown there to be little difference in healing rates and complications between controlled anal dilation and LIS while another [study] has again shown high success rates with anal dilation coupled with low incidence of side effects'.
Not all of us can undergo LIS; not all of us want to, me being one. So Controlled Anal Dilatation seems like a good alternative to me, and I do not see anything in the quote from Wikipedia to make me think differently.
For those who do not want to go through the recovery period that is often involved with LIS, Controlled Anal Dilatation seems an alternative well worth considering.
Sav

Sav,
My point was this - you stated that "Maybe, in a few years, CRS will offer this in the US"
I was just merely saying that this is not a new procedure and has already been in existance in the US however many CRS's no longer use this method because of incontinence risks. I was not advising one way or another or making comparisons against LIS.
Davo