The pain of anal fissures is a bit exaggerated, but the pain that is vague, sometimes big, sometimes small, sometimes far, sometimes close to the knife is really unpleasant. What is an anal fissure? The incidence of anal fissure is the second most common anal disease, after hemorrhoids, and is more common in young adults between the ages of 20 and 40. As the name implies, anal fissure is a fissure in the anus. Professionally, the concept is a prismatic fissure or ulcer formed by a rupture of the skin of the anal canal below the dentate line of the anus due to various reasons. The direction of the fissure is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the anal canal and is either pike shaped or oval shaped. The majority of fissures are located in the posterior midline of the anal canal, but can also be located in the anterior midline, and rarely occur laterally. The presence of lateral fissures should be considered as a possibility of inflammatory bowel disease or tumor. Long-term untreated anal fissures can seriously affect the life of patients and also induce perianal eczema, anal itching and other anal diseases, and may also form high-grade complex anal fissures, causing anal incontinence or, more seriously, cancer. Causes of anal fissures Many people often encounter symptoms of constipation, pain and bleeding after a bowel movement, which people often think are hemorrhoids. However, patients with such symptoms often have anal fissures rather than hemorrhoids. What are the causes of induced anal fissures? 1, constipation: among the causes of anal fissure, constipation is a very important one. If the patient has frequent constipation and dry stool, it is bound to damage the anal canal when passing through it, causing anal fissures. In addition, if the patient is not cured of constipation during the treatment of anal fissures, then it will trigger anal fissures again in the future, resulting in frequent attacks of anal fissures. 2, bad defecation habits: many people have the habit of reading newspapers and smoking when defecating, which invariably prolongs the defecation time and increases the pressure on the anal area, causing blood pooling in the anal area. If at this time and then force defecation, the anal canal area excessive pressure, it will cause anal fissure bleeding. 3, infection factors: If there are long-term infection factors around the anal canal, it will lead to recurring anal fissures, and delayed. These infectious factors mainly include hemorrhoids, perianal abscess, anal fistula, anal sinusitis and other anal intestinal diseases. Two typical symptoms of anal fissures Constipation is both a cause and a consequence of anal fissures. After an anal fissure, the patient is reluctant to defecate due to anal pain, which over time causes constipation and drier stools. Constipation can aggravate the fissure, forming a vicious circle that makes it difficult to heal. So the 2 typical symptoms of anal fissures are: 1. Periodic pain: Pain is the main symptom of anal fissures, most of the pain symptoms of anal fissures are very intense and have a typical cycle, burning or cutting pain in the anal canal when defecating, called pain during defecation. After a few minutes of relief, called intermittent period, followed by anal sphincter spasm again severe pain, which can last for half to several hours, clinically known as sphincter contracture pain, until the sphincter fatigue, pain relief after relaxation, and then defecation pain, called anal fissure pain cycle. 2, blood in the stool: Another major manifestation of anal fissure is blood in the stool, which is due to the expansion of the anal canal during defecation, causing small blood vessels in the anal fissure to tear, bleeding is not much, sometimes, or blood drops out during the stool, or blood on the surface of the stool, or blood on the hand paper after the stool, sometimes a small amount of mucus is visible in the blood. Preventing anal fissures: drink water regularly and have regular bowel movements Drinking water is the most effective way to prevent constipation. Drink more water, eat more coarse fiber vegetables and fruits, and eat some coarse grains to correct constipation and promote smooth bowel movements, avoid spicy foods and tobacco and alcohol. Drinking can be plain water, light salt water, honey water and soup before and after meals. It is not advisable to drink too much strong tea or caffeinated beverages, because the tannic acid in tea can converge astringent stool; while caffeine has a diuretic, accelerating the role of water loss. At the same time to develop good defecation habits, preferably in the morning after waking up or breakfast, in normal life should be reasonably arranged in order to prevent the occurrence of disease. If the anal fissure is not treated in time, it will develop into anal canal ulcer, sentinel hemorrhoid, anal papillary hypertrophy, anal sinusitis and anal fistula, collectively known as “anal fissure five consecutive signs”. Once the fissure is formed, the condition becomes more serious and more complicated to treat. Therefore, patients with anal fissures should go to regular professional hospitals for treatment in a timely manner.