So it is a trade off between getting a correct diagnosis and experiencing short moderate pain. By the way, they use steroid jelly before and after the exam which reduces pain. If I were you, I would go to a good CRS who comes well recommended and I can trust. And I would go through with the exam -- get a correct diagnosis. And hopefully, the scope will have to be used once, and the next time on, he could just use a finger depending on how you're healing. The idea is to keep going to a good CR who knows your progress and does the exams accordingly. I've been to three now. While I admit that all of them are good, I have decided to stick to the last one who will track my progress - so I dont have to keep getting the scopes done repeatedly during my healing.
Hope it helps.

Don't know if you've gone to the doc yet but just wanted to add that the anoscope makes me think of those things they stick in your ear...but of course bigger...more cone shaped.

So i went to the Doctor yesterday! What a waste of time he was. So depressed now. He told me that i should try rectogesic, i told him the reason my gp told me not 2 was because there is no research that it does not go thru your milk to my baby since i am breastfeeding. he then made a stuiped remark that it doesnt matter if my daughter gets it. he also checked me out by just looking and i was told by my gp that you can see it on the outside and there is no reason to push and prod it, so he told me he wont push and prod and wont make it worse. So he did and then went to say oh so it does hurt. Now i am in pain again since seeing him, i have not had this pain in 3months or any bleeding. back to the start again. its even harder now because my daughter is older (5months) and wants to be played with and heavier to pick up.
He said he will do the surgury if i want it, and i will recover with in a day and will need no pain meds for it. which i think is a joke because of what i read from other people. i then asked him for more info about it and he told me that all he does is cuts a musle and thats all i need to know.
I have now made an appointment to go back to my gp which i trust and see again what she thinks. i have been in tears since and i dont know what to do. I feel like i got no answers from him and he has left me in pain again after i started to heal. he also told me i am a tight ass and thought it was funny, and i could have this problem again if it heals.
he is meant to be 1 of the best surgeons in the city.
sorry but i need to vent i just feel like calling him back and yelling at him.

Hi
I am sorry to hear that the CRS you saw was a bit of idiot. Some doctors unforunately suffer from delusions of grandeur! I would suggest asking your GP to refer you to another CRS.
His comment about a one day recovery period from a LIS was interesting!? Although I think there may be different types of LIS. I am sure other forumers can enlighten me on this. I have seen details of one online where they made and incision and use forceps to hold the muscle and cut in. But my CRS just described a procedure that takes literally seconds where they just make a 'stab' incision through the muscle (which sounded a bit imprecise to me). This CRS could do the stab version which doesn't sound quite so invasive. Anyone else heard of this type of LIS? Or am I talking rubbish as per normal?!

I really think your CRS is a bit clueless about what sort of pain a fissure can cause, and as for the one day recovery period, is he serious? I'm on day 15 post-op and I'm still experiencing some discomfort.
Elf, I'm also wondering if there's different types of the LIS procedure available, for one, I posted a video in this forum that looks different from the procedure I had, I know this because I have no sutures on the outside left of my anus, only on the inside.