Hi Everyone!

Despite the missive above telling me that I should be going to bed, haha!, I am writing this post both as a new member and hopefully as someone who will retire her status as AF sufferer and won't need to be here.

For about a year now, I have been suffering 24/7 with this dreadful AF condition, which started when I mistakenly cut myself in the shower when shaving my bikini line. Got a little too close to my "parts" there and knicked myself. Not thinking much about it, I went on with my life, not knowing that it would quickly escalate into this huge drama that would, up until this point, completely rule my existence. The shaving cut got irritated, which set off a trainwreck of circumstances that made me an ideal candidate to develop AF.

Over the course of this time I was forced to become a DIY alchemist, researcher and guinea pig, leaving no stone I could find unturned. I come from a family of physicians and I knew straightaway that traditional medicine is great for some things and not so great for others. For myself, the thought of going to a M.D. for this was a last resort, as it seemed far too daunting a task to research who would be the most competent, only to endure the pain of traveling to their office for a 15 minute looksee and hear the usual protocol...take baths, use epsom salt, use A and D ointment, use a vasodialator cream, use hydorcortisone cream, use tucks pads, use ibuprofin, use a heating pad, keep the area clean, keep the area dry, keep the area moisturized, eat fiber, don't eat too much fiber, blah blah blah...then I of course imagined the prospect of hearing the classic go-to recommendation of surgery, which for some people has probably worked, but not without a great deal of even more pain, debilitation and recovery time. Then there are the stories you hear about the unsuccessful or botched surgeries...where people are left with pain and/or incontinence as a matter of course, with very little hope for reversal or recovery.

I had done all of the AMA recommendations listed above, none with sustained success for long term, or even short term, healing. In addition, I have tried countless other applications and permutations, also to limited avail, including, but not limited to, in no particular order and in every combination possible:

manuka honey, organic unfiltered honey, burts bees all purpose ointment, bag balm lanolin ointment, aveeno oatmeal moisturizing cream, extra virgin coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, sesame oil, witch hazel, hydrogen peroxide, sinus cleanse salt mixture, aloe, olive oil cream, calmoseptine cream, lidocaine cream, ice packs and probably 50 other things I cannot recall.

Yesterday, and even more significantly, today are the very first days in about a year when I have had relief and believe I am on the mend to recovery.

1. Debridement/exfoliation of scab/dead tissue to enable healthy skin to form.

What would continue to happen to me was that every time I would begin to heal, I would start to get these stabbing pains from the fissure sites and I would regress...something would inevitable tear or get irritated when I went to the bathroom or even if I sat the wrong way, and the fissures would ITCH ITCH ITCH to the point where I literally thought I was going insane.

As I researched the AF treatments and studies compiled on the peer reviewed medical studies out there, I realized that one of the secondary, not often mentioned courses of treatment that is used is surgical debridement of the area, often accompanied by the horrific-sounding cutting of the sphincter muscle surgery. The idea of sloughing off dead skin cells to stimulate the creation of new healthy cells is used in skin care treatments all the time, so it seemed to me that whether it be ass or face, it makes sense to do this treatment myself at home. From what I was reading, it was primarily done at the crisis stages of AF treatment, in-hospital, invasively, as part of a last resort treatment plan. This seemed counter-intuitive to me, as it makes more sense to do gentle exfoliation along the way, rather than backtrack with extreme surgical debridement later on.

So, as comical as the process may seem, I set out to exfoliate my fissures, without injuring myself and doing damage in the process. This is what I did:

a. Applied Burt's Bees All Purpose ointment inside and outside the area, took a LONG, hot sitz bath, and gently but firmly massaged/rubbed the fissure areas between my index and thumb to loosen up the scabbing skin and the muscles. This promoted blood flow to the area as well, which is essential for healing. The ointment made it easy to do with not a great deal of pain or discomfort. I can only compare this process to what is done when tenderizing meat...marinate and manipulate in such a way that the skin is maliable.

b. I then got out of the sitz bath, applied more ointment, squatted, like in a frog yoga position, relaxed my muscles to expose the fissures more, and then gently rubbed the fissures in alternating circular motions with a hot washcloth, also covered in the all purpose ointment. This whole process served quite well to remove the scabbing dead skin that forms on the fissures, which is what impedes full healing and also is the source of great pain and itching. If fissures are left to just become dry and stiff on their own during the healing process, my experience has always been that of regression. This method though was immediately successful in the fact that I had absolutely no itching and pain afterwards, even when I woke up this morning. I also believe that the removal of the dead skin allowed my wounds to be receptive to the ointment and the healing protective properties therein.


2. Application of PurO3 Ozonated Organic Olive Oil Skin Salve

I was then lucky enough today to receive my order of PurO3 Ozonated Organic Olive Oil Skin Salve, which I had researched and purchased on Amazon as yet one more way to potentially remedy this problem.

Simply put, I applied the salve inside and out of the area this morning, and have had a really great day today with no pain. I can totally feel the fissures healing, and have made certain to reapply the ointment regularly, especially when feeling that the area is getting dry from it being soaked into the skin and no longer acting as a protective layer.

I really suggest that anyone who is interested in this salve read about it on their site at puro3.com, where they have all kinds of information about how they make it and what the benefits are. I also ordered the sample kit of their other ozonated creams which are great for all kinds of things.

3. Probiotics

Taking a good colonized probiotic is so great for all kinds of processes- healthy bowels, nutrient absorption, etc. When I slack off, I notice that I expose myself to a higher irritation potential. I already have a high fiber plant based diet as a vegan, which can cause a lot of intestinal distress as a matter of course. The probiotic helps with all of that.

I have great hope that this is a problem that I now have under control and is managable/curable. I extend my greatest empathy to you all, anyone who experiences this nightmare, and I also hope that you are freed from it immediately and forever by whatever means necessary.

Since taking the steps above, my fissures are almost completely gone. The most important part for me is the ozone olive oil salve, which I put on every day as needed to prevent cracking. I just put it on, park my butt on a heating pad for a bit, and I have no pain at all.

The salve is also great for anti-aging skin care on my face...made a difference right away...for both top and bottom. I love this stuff, it saved me.

Hello, Brave One

Veronica, I like your thought process on curing your fissure without a knife. I had tried many of the same creams and some other none surgical procedures over three year to cure my fissue. I had healed and tore too many times, so I finally give in and did LIS about six weeks ago and I am on the mend. You have posted a very interesting story.

I do not know if the self exfolate idea is crazy or genius. Please continue to update your progress.

I wish you the best

Hello Friend,

I am so glad for you that you have found relief! That is the ultimate goal, yes, hopefully with the least amount of trauma possible to get there...

There seems to be so many different permutations of pathology centered around this area, all with their own quirks and etiology...what works for one person could at best be helpful to someone else, or at worst be ineffectual or even harmful.

I think the most important thing anyone can do with any ailment is take notice of their own body and its needs/limitations. I was extremely cautious about any kind of self-intervention as a cure, but as I gradually became more aware of the pattern I experienced as I started to heal every time, and then the subsequent itching, burning and reinjury, I gave it a shot. In my specific case, it actually felt so much better to get blood flow into the injury with hot baths and salve. My tears were not yet very deep at all, but instead just chronic and angry. For someone else, with different symptoms, this approach may be entirely wrong.

The one thing I do know that would probably be at least soothing to anyone's skin though is the Oxygenated Olive Oil salve. For me, amazing relief immediately. It is almost like it is super-charged. I am a natural skeptic and was pleasantly surprised.

So far, so good, and with consistent vigilance so as to hopefully avoid recurrence, I hope to never go through such a nightmare again. And if I do, I at least know the steps to take to mitigate quickly. For me, the feeling of being out of control with no hope in sight was almost as bad as the injury itself.

All the best to you too!

Hi Veronica,
i am about to be the next one to try and report on OOO... ozonated olive oil. the research looks really good.
how is your fissure... or ex-fissure?

Hi Sweetpea,
My apologies for the late reply, but suffice to say that it is an indicator of my status as one who has indeed healed and is not checking this board as often anymore. I never thought I would regain my life as pain-free and as grateful as I am to be so, I am hyper-vigilant about prevention in a post-traumatic type-of-way.
After my last post above, I did suffer some regression in wound healing after a really nasty bout of food poisoning. The setback bummed me out, but I was too close to let it become chronic again, so in addition to the OOO, I also took the following steps, which healed me right back up even faster than before:
1. I took regular sitz baths as usual, but this time I added epsom salt. This was the missing ingredient in my treatment, I believe, and I wish I had started using epsom salt a year ago. It serves to draw the fluid away from the wound and reduce the edema so that the skin can close up where it is torn. I don't know why I never tried this before, when god knows I tried everything else. Sometimes I would also rinse with a bit of witch hazel and water when the fissures were bad.
2. After each soak, and all day long, I made certain that I kept applying the OOO- in the past, as I think I stated above, everytime I would start to heal I would go out of my mind from wounds that were itching like mad as they scabbed over. The trick for me was to never let the fissures dry out and crack again. The OOO is the absolute best healing agent I have ever tried and I love it.
3. I also applied comfrey cream from Christopher's natural products on the wounds several times a day. This drastically sped up the healing process. I did research on the veracity of the claims made about the dangers of comfrey, and the reality is this: comfrey is harmful when taken internally as a tea derived from the comfrey root, and especially in large doses. Comfrey cream like the one I use is derived from the leaf of the plant, is applied topically, and is only needed for the purposes of most wound healing for short-term use. I applied some to a facial laceration my son got recently and it healed super-rapidly with no scarring at all. Pretty great stuff.
4. I also applied a bit of hydro-cortisone 2.5% cream once or twice a day along with the above creams- especially after the sitz baths. In the past this has not helped me heal when used alone as a treatment, but when used in conjunction with other methods, it did help to reduce inflammation.
5. I took advil every six hours, also to reduce inflammation.
6. A heating pad helped the creams absorb into the skin faster, I believe.
7. Especially after the imbalance to my system from the food poisoning, but also as a regular (pardon the pun) measure, I try to do what I can with my diet to make sure that I only go to the bathroom once a day, in a manner that necessitates the least amount of wiping, and I always keep the area copiously clean, both on the outside using ph balanced products from sweetspotlabs.com, and on the inside using a mild water rinse. I also take probiotics, which helps intestinal balance.
Anyway, after less than a week of the above steps after my food-poisoning episode and subsequent reinjury, I was COMPLETELY fissure-free and have been since. It was literally an overnight transition where one day I just woke up with no more injuries. I do not take this for granted, so I ALWAYS apply OOO or coconut oil consistently so as to prevent this from ever happening again, which will hopefully do the trick. However, if I do get another tear in the future, I am fully prepared to quash it before it gets as bad as it did for me before, which literally robbed me of at least a year of my life.
How are you doing? Have you stared using OOO? I hope you are feeling better using it or anything else that works! You might already have this information, but here is a pdf for anyone interested about peer reviewed studies/results regarding the uses of ozonated oils. (I purchased samples of the other types of oils and use them for my face, hair and oral hygiene also.)
http://www.puro3.com/2014-studies.pdf
Best regards!
-V.

Veronicalikes,

I found these on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C9K ... LG3YA78R28
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BI1 ... 2O1YW2PLOM


Which is the item you recommend?

Thank you, Veronica for the great information.

I have had an anal fissure for about nine months and remember when it initially happened. I was working long hours on a killer project and stressing myself out and was stressing myself far too much on the toilet and one day - pain - and that was it. I went to the doctor and then a surgeon, but I don't want to get cut when there are too many unknowns about what could happen.

I tried so many things, just like you: Proctofoam, Nifedipine, Wheatgrass, aloe vera, Emuaid, Lidocaine, vaseline, bag balm, Preparation H and others I can't remember now. Nothing seemed to work. I received my ozonated olive oil yesterday and have started treating myself.

After using the bathroom, I typically have tissue on the outside of my body and I wipe with vaseline to cut down on irritation and then using warm water, I cleanse the area and tuck the tissue back in (sorry if this sounds bad), then pat dry. I then apply the OOO and now I hope for the best. This condition has basically changed my life and not for the better.

This forum is wonderful and contains so much information. I'm glad that I found it. Now I'm hoping for the best - yet again.

Wish you all well

Lee

Alyssa,

Not sure if you found your answer on the olive oil, but I ordered something similar, yet it is different. It is ozonated olive oil and I've just started using it. Here is the site where I found it:

http://www.pureenergystore.com/servlet/ ... 7AodKGsAJQ

Good luck!

LeeMS,

Thanks for responding... I just ordered it, how is it working out for you so far?