Botox for fissure?

[cheryl888]

Hi all,
I'm new here. I was diagnosed with an anal fissure at the end of November. Doc tried treating it with nifedipine and there has been a slight improvement in the pain, but the fissure is still not healed and I am still miserable. Next step the doc suggested was Botox. Has anyone had this procedure done? Has it helped? Can you give me any insight into it?

(As a sidenote - I was diagnosed with IBS - D almost 20 years ago. When this fissure occured, my gastro ran some bloodwork and my ASCA came back elevated suggesting Crohn's. Colonoscopy did not show Crohn's, but he is treating me as if I do have it - put me on Pentasa to start with.)

Thanks!

 

[DJW]

Hi and welcome.

I'm afraid I have no insight for you. Sending you my support.

 

[SarahD]

I've heard of botox for fissures before but haven't had it done personally. I'd be very interested to hear of your experience if you decide to go ahead with the treatment. I too have an anal fissure and am due to see a colorectal surgeon in 2 weeks time to discuss treatment options.

 

[Kip1]

Hi
Was going to have botox during my hemicolectomy for the fissure I had developed but it was too deep so could not have it done.

Hope you get sorted soon.

 

[readytoheal]

Hi! I've had Botox and can offer you my experience. Hope it helps you. First my fissure was very chronic and had been there for more than 3 years with some healing along the way. Creams did nothing for me. The injections were done under general anesthesia by a CRS. While "there" she removed a small skin tag which she named Nubbin that was just at the outside end of the fissure. This part of the procedure was by far the most painful and troublesome to heal.

The pain was horrible and lasted days to weeks. I took heavy duty pain meds. Again, I think the pain was from the Nubbin removal.

The Botox finally started kicking in after about a week. I really didn't notice any huge improvement in tone. After about 3 months the CRS then burned the area with silver nitrate (OMG don't do it). Pain was crazy bad for days. It did start the healing process though.

All in all, the botox did not heal me. Worth a shot but didn't work for me. I began dilating every single night and this healed most of my fissure and improved my tone a lot. Butt, now I have an infection on that end (where Nubbin was removed) and a fistula has formed. New CRS says fissure is basically healed but wants to open the fistula and do a proper LIS surgery. UGH!!! I hate my butt.

Good luck!!!! Keep us posted.

 

[cheryl888]

Just to follow up on this - I haven't had to do Botox (yet). I did develop a fistula which I needed to have surgery to fix in March. That is healing slowly and it seems that my fissure is healing too. I am still having some discomfort and right now my CSR is not sure if it's related to the fissure or the granulated scar tissue that is forming from the healing fistula. She said the Crohn's is probably causing my healing time from surgery to be slower than normal. So Botox might still be in my future, but I do have to say my pain has decreased immensely since the fistula surgery.