Symptoms of external hemorrhoids include meatballs in the perianal area, pain, bleeding, etc. Methods of self-checking include observation, touch, etc. However, the accuracy of self-checking is low, and you should seek medical examination in time. 1. External hemorrhoid symptoms: the typical symptom of external hemorrhoids is the appearance of one or more small meatballs in the anal area, which are usually purplish-red in color, and the meatballs will gradually increase in size with the aggravation of hemorrhoids. The anal area may have pain, itching, foreign body sensation, anal swelling and blood in stool and other symptoms. 2. The method of self-checking: you can observe or touch the anal area with your hand to see if there is any prominent purple-red ball of flesh, observe if there is any erosion or ulceration in the area of the ball of flesh, and whether there is any bleeding and severe pain during bowel movement, etc. If the above symptoms appear, the patient should be alerted. If the above symptoms occur, the patient should be alerted to external hemorrhoids, due to the inaccuracy of the results of self-checking, should be timely medical treatment, through professional doctors checkups, anorectal examination, etc. to confirm the diagnosis.