When do I need to have surgery for hemorrhoids?

For hemorrhoids, the indications for surgery should be strictly controlled. Asymptomatic hemorrhoids do not need to be treated, and symptomatic hemorrhoids are treated with the aim of eliminating and reducing the main symptoms of hemorrhoids, rather than surgically curing them as the first choice. This is because first of all, the anal cushion, which is the origin of hemorrhoids, has an important function of feeling feces and controlling feces, so it is better not to remove it. In addition, there are very rich nerves in the anus, and the pain sensation is unusually acute, so the pain will be more intense for the patient after surgery, and the wound healing time in the anus is also longer, which will cause more pain for the patient, while hemorrhoids are not cancerous. Therefore, the indications for surgery should be strictly controlled. Generally speaking, surgical treatment is only applicable to severe II, III, IV internal hemorrhoids, mixed hemorrhoids and those for whom non-surgical treatment including thrombosis or hematoma is ineffective. Regardless of the surgical method, the anal cushion with less severe lesions should be preserved as much as possible, and care should be taken to avoid complications such as postoperative bleeding, anal stenosis, and anal insufficiency. At present, the following four conditions are mostly used as indications for surgery, namely ① Ⅲ and Ⅳ degree internal hemorrhoids; ② Ⅰ and Ⅱ degree internal hemorrhoids with heavy bleeding and ineffective conservative treatment; ③ acute ingrown hemorrhoids; ④ relatively large external hemorrhoids with symptoms and signs.