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Anal fissure refers to a tiny crack in the
skin surrounding the anus, the excretory opening from the
bowel. The irritation usually extends down to the muscle
fibres. This ailment is quite common in infancy and early
childhood and causes a great deal of concern to parents. Symptoms
Anal fissure is
very painful. The child feels a sharp pain while passing
motion. The pain may continue for sometime even after
defecation. Often the child suppresses the stools to
avoid pain. There may be slight bleeding and very often
itching round the anus. Any scratching of this area
causes intense distress.
Causes
The most common
use of anal fissure is chronic constipation and the
resultant hard motions, which damage the tissue and tear
the mucous membrane. Once this has been done, the fissure
is reopened at the passage of subsequent motions and
further infected by the feaces. The root cause of this
disorder, as in case of constipation is, wrong feeding.
Treatment
As the anal
fissure results from chronic constipation, the treatment
for this disease is same as for constipation, outlined in
chapter 8 on constipation.
The pain of anal fissure can be best relieved by hot
applications to the anus. Older children can be made to
sit on a pail or jar, half- filled with hot water, while
moving the bowels. The hot steam relaxes the sphincter,
and exercises a powerful analgesic effect upon the
painful tissues. Other helpful measures are hot anal
douche with little pressure, fomentation over buttocks
and hot rectal irrigation.
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