Like many on this forum I have had an active fissure on and off for some time. I was recently scheduled for Botox but by the time the appt came i was doing much better and the Botox was cancelled. A month later the irritation and itching is back but worse. My doctor says this is not a blood flow problem and may be too much cleaning etc, and I should try a stronger steroid cream. I,m to the point where the dibutaine I use lasts about 2 hrs then I,m going nuts with the irritation. I kind of feel like I,m getting the run around here. Doctor says try A#D lotion or stonger steroid. I could use some advice. thanks- John

Hi john.

Sorry to hear about your pain.
Have you tried any calcium channel blockers in ointment form, like Diltiazem or Nifedipine? Nitroglycerine added to ointment formula does the same thing but often with more sideeffects (headaches).

You should not be on steroid creams for very long at a time as this can thin the skin, thus making matters worse. It also seems to be a very poor choice in most cases with only temporary relief at best - I have yet to read about someone who actually healed using this stuff. I have tried one of the stronger ones myself and it did help a lot but only while I was using it (8 days) and a few days after that. Since then I now got multiple fissures which could be partially due to this treatment.

Are you doing sitz baths? This helps a lot with burning and itching for most people and is relatively side-effect free.

Part of the problem with this fissure thing is not being able to see exactly what is really going on down there. I didn,t know if I was taking too many sitz baths or not enough. Or using too much creams and ointments or too little. I have talked my wife into playing doctor and being my eyes down there. After having a bm and taking a hot water soak she examined me. She found that the fissure area was doing quite well and showed little sign of being inflamed. But around the opposite side(12 oclock) from the fissure ( 6 0clock) the skin appeared dry and cracked. Same way around anus. Seems like this is the itch area. Maybe i was overdoing the sitz baths and drying things out too much. Anyway I will try and keep this area moist using some a@d baby rash lotion. I,ll report later in week if this helps or not.- John

Well its been a week now and I feel much better. I ended up using the steroid ointment. After about the first day the itch was about gone. I think all the hot water baths had just dried up and irritated the area. Feels great to finally get a good nights sleep. I think the itch was almost worse than the pain from the fissure. I hope not to go down this road again.- J

That's a relief to hear!! Yay to a itch free sleep!!

Omb