So I had a fissure for 3 years, and finally decided to get surgery. No health insurance, and I live most of the time in Asia, so I had to get it at a hospital in Thailand (their surgeons are generally top notch and educated abroad). Researched the top hospitals, met with multiple CRS's, and ended up getting the head of the surgery board, who also happened to specialize in CRS. He said he had done literally hundreds of LIS procedures, and the incontinence had never been an issue.
Until me apparently. I'm a 27 year old guy. Should have about the lowest likelihood of developing incontinence. But low and behold, I'm now 1 month out, the wound and the fissure have healed, and the incontinence shows no sign of even improving.
I guess it could be worse. It's only gas and mucus leakage, but it really has brought my life to a halt. Any physical activity is impossible without getting something similar to a dipper rash. Really unpleasant.
So, I guess my question is, has anyone else had these symptoms? How long did they take to go away? I've read that in most cases this sort of incontinence is gone by 6 weeks, but I'm getting close to 5 weeks with no improvement. Any thoughts?

Hi anybodyguy,
Sorry to hear that you are experiencing incontinence issues.
I'm due to have LIS tomorrow and naturally incontinence is everybodys worry so i carried out lots of research beforehand. The majority of surveys suggest that incontinence is most common in the first three months following surgery as this is the time when the sphincter is at its weakest. It actually takes the sphincter about 12 months in total to gain around 80% of its original strength so it is still only early days for you yet.
Below are details I posted in another thread recently from a report which details sphincter resting pressure following LIS surgery:
The resting pressure was read before LIS surgery, one month after and then at 3, 6 and 12 months.
Resting Pressure 1 month before surgery = 138
Resting Pressure 1 month after surgery = 86
Resting Pressure at 3 months = 95.4
Resting Pressure at 6 months = 102
Resting Pressure at 12 months = 110
What this demonstrates to me is why patients may suffer some mild temporary incontinence immediately following surgery and why CRS’s suggest that full healing occurs in 12 months. It shows that the sphincter is at its weakest immediately following surgery and a constant healing improvement continues over the course of 12 months post surgery.
It is also important to note that during the 1 year follow-up, all the patients were free of symptoms. Only 1 patient (2%) had temporary soiling, which resolved after 3 months. There were no other postoperative complications.

Thanks. Those statistics do look encouraging. I really hope that it's true.