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Fistula-in-Ano” Right from the patients mouth !

Fistula is quiet simple looking word however the actual story behind the word is quiet horrible with full of sufferings & discomfort. A word “Naasur” in Hindi is somewhat similar to condition which means “a wound that doesn’t heals on its own”. However fistula is indicating a high degree of infection at gland level.

Start up signs of Fistula

Starting of this disease is very simple & silent where patient hardly gets any symptom. Symptoms of fistula can we generalised as a formation of very small opening like a pin hole near to the anus & looks like a normal pimple. After few days to few weeks this so called pimple gets some swelling & hardness with pain which sometimes felt after pressing the infected place. However shortly after this condition this pimple bursts & emits trace amount of watery discharge. Patient feels relax after bursting of this pimple & it gets almost disappears from the place leaving the signs of cure. However the story of Fistula Treatment is not that simple, after few days the same pimple again forms on the same place & shows the same symptoms like earlier.

This cycle of, formation and bursting of pimple, again and again, gives the first impression of being infected with fistula. Generally patient avoids discussing this with others due to embarrassment factor. This approach is usually not very safe & it further increases the internal length of fistula but keeping the outside opening one very cool, calm & simple. If fistulas at this stage are not treated, they are converted into a high grade fistula & shows daily pus discharge along with inflammation. Patient at this stage starts keeping some cotton pads on the infected area to avoid staining of cloths.

If kept untreated, Fistula tract can further get divided into branches internally & becomes more complex to treat multiple tract fistulas. Sometimes this tract also communicates with rectum & patient feels some pinching sensation in fistula opening due to leakage of gas from to rectum to fistula tract. These kinds of rectum connected fistulas are very difficult to treat even with multiple surgical interventions & prolong antibiotic courses, due to continuous contamination of the tract internally through rectum.

Conclusion

Although fistula-in-ano looks quite simple & easy at origin point, & merely gives any noticeable symptoms, still it is strongly advisable for a patient to talk to his doctor for further diagnosis & proper Fistula Treatment. Timely & proper diagnosis of disease can save patient from costly & repeated fistula surgery.