I am an extremely anxious person especially about surgery since I haven't had it since I was 9. So I went in with about 20 questions and I don't think shes used to dealing with my kind of anxiety/OCD.
She seemed a little impatient and annoyed at times but other times she was nice. I guess that's par for the course. Here's what I asked and the answers (some of which don't jive with the experience on this board but I guess each doc and each person is different).
How many fissures do I have and will surgery heal them all? I have one large one and a few cuts she says are more breaks in skin than fissures. Said the skin breaks are due to moisture and anal itching, skin becomes weaker and cuts can form. Surgery will heal the fissure, skin breaks will heal with moisture control and less itching
Does skintag need to be removed? Too small, no need.
How long for fissures to heal? 4 weeks roughly
How long for incision to heal? 1 week roughly
Area is raw, skin feels thinned out, how long before it's all full strength? She said skin is thin and raw and could take a year for it to be at full strength. Said if anal itching continues to be a problem then she will refer to dermatologist. Things use of steroid creams over years has thinned it out but odd thing is I haven't used a cream aside from diltiazem in a year.
Will there be scar tissue or skintags after healing? She said no.
How will I know if there is infection and how quickly will I know? Said I will have discharge from incision, could be anytime first week to three week follow up.
What pain meds will I get and do I get antibiotics? Vicodin for pain, no antibiotics.
How big is incision, how many sutures/stitches and do they fall out on their own? 1/2 inch incision, sutured all the way from top to bottom of incision (one long suture) and they fall out on their own.
I've been taking Miralax for over a year and an afraid to stop, can I take it afterwards? No problem, take every night for as long as I want but eventually won't need it and can wean off.
Should I stay off my butt to heal? Not needed but should take week off work and take it easy.
What should my diet be during healing and when can I start eating regular food? She said I could start eating regular food right away no problem ( found this odd, I will stick to fissure friendly diet)
I think that's it, did I miss anything? She, of course, made it sound like this was the easiest thing in the world and no big deal and seemed puzzled by my anxiety. I guess that's how many docs are.

Yep Lurker, the docs seem to make it seem like the easiest thing in the world :roll:
Good that you don't have to have your skin tag removed.
Not to raise your anxiety but anal surgery can cause residual skin tags. It's happened throughout this forum, and most all skin tags will leave a little loose piece of skin after healing unless removed. I'm not saying it's always a problem but it does happen.
There's also been quite a few who were told to go back to regular diet and they didn't have such a great experience doing that. So, I think sticking with your diet is a good idea :)
Also, you may be able to run a marathon after surgery, but that would probably hinder your healing. History has shown on this forum that the ones who took it easy and stayed off there butts did well as opposed to those who didn't. Not taking it easy can drag what could happen in a couple of weeks out into a month etc, if you know what I mean.
Good Luck! Not much longer and you will be a new man

Hi Dawn, thanks for your response. I already have one little skin tag but luckily it doesn't bother me (to my knowledge anyhow, who knows with this big fissure and these little skin breaks taking up my attention).
Here's hoping I don't get a big one from healing, but it could happen I know.
I am going to be very hesitant with my diet although I am not exactly that careful now because Miralax is such a life saver. But for first week at least I will go very slow and eat mushy, fibery things.
As for running a marathon, not gonna happen. I just wanted to see if I should be off my butt altogether or not and she said it doesn't matter, but based on your advice and the advice of others, I will be laying on my side for quite a while right after surgery.
Bummed (not a joke) I will still have the thinned out skin and itching issue. Was anyone else's skin all thinned out and bothered because of the problems back there.
My goal in life is to have a big, bowl filling turd that looks like a coiled python like the old days with no pain or blood or spasm and to clean up without a second thought. I never realized how happy I used to be on the toilet. I want to be that happy again.

It's easy for a CRS to say it's easy or straight forward, it's not their ASS! We have discussed that somewhere on here before that each CRS should have a fissure as part of their training then they'd know how it feels and be more sympathetic towards us, they make me so angry
You're the patient, ask as many questions as you like, it's your right to know and feeling anxious is normal.
It could take up to 1 year for your fissure to heal (mine did), the incision site should heal much quicker as long as you pamper your bum lots and no wiping!! If you have internal stitches these will dissolve on their own, it's hard to say just how long though.

lurker53 wrote:My goal in life is to have a big, bowl filling turd that looks like a coiled python like the old days with no pain or blood or spasm and to clean up without a second thought. I never realized how happy I used to be on the toilet. I want to be that happy again.

Ha ha ha!! I literally dreamt of the same thing, right before the surgery! Dreams CAN come true!
Funny you mention 'little skin breaks' because that's what I had going on too. I just thought I had multiple fissures but they were really superficial (except for the one big one that started the whole mess). I was prescribed a strong steroid cream and I don't think it helped the situation any. Don't worry, the surgery will most likely get rid of those little ones too, although like your CRS said, it could take a long time for the skin to regain its strength.
Good luck!

i also have small skin breaks around the tag that i have but the doctor didnt say anything about them, if you dont mind me asking where are yours? i wonder if they will just dissappear or what will happen to them. that is my problem right now the skin breaks on tag. lurker sounds like you asked some good questions with the crs consult and hope everything goes well for you this week

Hey Lurker,
Isn't it crazy how our dreams change once we get a fissure?! LOL! We go from a vacation in Hawaii or a sports car to just wanting a nice, satisfying poop! :oops:
As Alpine said "dreams can come true." Lol!
It will all become a reality after surgery!
Yeah it's a bummer about the skin. Mine has slowly gotten better. I still get some irritation but it is liveable and doesn't alter my life as it did before surgery.
Don't judge your recovery by the first few weeks after surgery because things will be tender and more itchy than they will end up. It will gradually get better and the skin will get stronger. As your CRS said it can take a year or so. I'm living proof of that, Lol.
Oh and about the skin tag- You would know beyond a shadow of a doubt if it were giving you any trouble, so I'm sure you are fine there.
NG had a skin tag that he didn't have removed either and I don't recall it giving him any real trouble.
You're going to be happy again! You're getting your new butt just in time for the Holidays just like I did last year.

I have also few of this skin breaks.....they retear very easily.....more or less every 1,5 weeks. Does anybody else also have this problem that they retear that often ?

I assume the skin breaks will also be able to heal with the LIS surgery and the added blood flow down there? Will the increased blood flow help strengthen the skin as well?

Hey Lurker,
I haven't had any skin break/ re-tears since having LIS. The loose muscle that allows your fissure to heal should allow for any re-tears to heal also. Most who have had re-tears have said it heals faster and isn't as bad as it was before surgery.
Once that muscle is out of spasm and not clenching anymore, everything should heal much faster and get stronger.
I know it has to be scary reading about re-tears but many people don't have them at all after LIS.