Anyone had successful anal fistula surgery

Hi guys, not sure if anyone is still on this but it's worth a shot. Basically about a year ago I had an abscess which then formed a fistula, long story short I'm due to have surgery on Friday to insert a seton. I'm sooo scared, I'm scared of the surgery itself and if it will make it worse. Up until now the fistula hasn't caused that many problems, just has days when it bleeds and then days when it doesn't. My partner is adamant that I go through with the surgery, but I'm just not sure?

For me it started out as an abscess. It drained on it's own followed by alot of pus and bleeding. That eventually went down. But I kept feeling this little sensitive, wet spot that just wouldn't go away. At first I thought it was an ingrown hair.

But it turns out they abscess left an opening. It's near my anus. It doesn't hurt at all actually. Only when it gets irritated it swells up and releases pus. When the specialist examined me I realized I only had pain where they opening was located. What does that mean?

I've never had surgery before I'm scared out of my wits... But I really want this gone permanently and behind of me. So I can return to having a normal life. Any advice?

I had altogether four surgeries. The last one was taking out the cutting c-ton and fistulotomy. I am well for a year and 1 month now. First surgery was with general surgeon so obviously it didn't work. During the second surgery my proctologist noticed my fistula is longer and more complicated so he cleaned out my returning abscess and referred me to a colorectal surgeon who specialized in more complicated fistulas. Mine was supposed to be a vaginorectal one. For the longest time doctors would suggest to me that my abscess came out of nowhere that maybe I sat too much etc. Finally we figured out that I tore both my vagina and rectum during giving birth to my daughter. Believe me, it all clicked in my head. I was complaining of intense pain for 8 months post childbirth and dctors and nurses just told me its probably hemmoroids and nothing much. Well the tear in my butt got infected, i could feel the 'papercut' feeling in my sphincter muscle when I went nr 2 and I got my first of abscesses. 3 years later, 4 surgeries later I know that it was a tear and that my sphincter muscle got damaged beyond repair. Now, after the succesful surgery i started getting the feeling of being very tight, papercuts down there more and more often. The fear that Im going to get more abscesses combined with my last surgeon's insistence that everything looks great down there made me very miserable. I went on a juice fast, figuring if I eliminate eating I will not have to poop. I was woozy and weak so eventually I syarted eating applesauce and veg broth. I cried from pain days upon days. Finally i went for second opinion to my proctologist who referes me to the specialist and the proctologist told me i have a post surgery complication of anal stenosis. I went through physical therapy- sphincter muscle exercises along with electrical current machine thingy. It worked like a charm. Whenever i feel that im getting rubbed down there i take a spoon of miralax and exercise 4 x a day like im supposed to. To people whom docs told they dont know reason for the abscesses i can share this : Most abscesses stem from anal tears. Tears are caused by trauma like 1.childbirth or 2. the wrong/ unnatural kind of s e x which thank God neither me or my husband have an interest in and from 3. a bad diet. I am a mostly plant based person (vegan) . High fiber, water and fruit based smoothies replacing one meal. Very little bread or other products based on flour (pizza, pasta). Stay away from dairy and meats.As long as i stick to eating like I do and not sneak chocolate in... my nr 2 is soft and doesnt hurt me. I also use vaseline every single day as a precaution - I put it in on tip of my little finger. Hope it helps someone.

I've had a succesful recovery from an anal fistula after 2 surgeries - one LIFT procedure in March, and one Advancement Flap surgery in May. I'm about 2 months post-op with minimal incontinence and almost no pain. The first week or so of recovery after each surgery was pretty brutal (especially the Advancement Flap), mostly during poops. I only took about 1.5 weeks off work each time, but I'm sure you'd need more if you had a sitting down at a desk type job. The absolute worst was not really knowing what's normal or not for the healing process. For example: (sorry in advance for TMI) I had blood squirting out of my anus every time I passed gas, which was pretty horrifying, but my doctor wasn't concerned about it at my 3 week follow-up appointment. If you had a doctor who was a little more thorough with you about what to expect during recovery, I bet it would be a bit less pdychologically awful. It was worth it, but I'm so glad it's over.

The LIFT procedure clearly failed at about the 5 week mark, when there was a soggy spot of skin at one of the sutures that wouldn't heal. The Advancement Flap never had any external drainage, and all the sutures were inside the rectum. My doctor declared it a success at 3 weeks post-op, and now at 8 weeks I'm 100% sure as well.

(BTW I am 31, female, overweight, no gut conditions like IBD/IBS/Crohns)

I just begun my journey towards recovery so can’t definitely say this has or has not worked, however I can say I see a light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. I’d been living with a chronic fissure for more than 15 years. I don’t have IBS or Chron’s. I think this all began during my high school days — I would hold gas for fear of embarrassing myself and that, along with a poor diet and not properly hydrating myself, led to chronic constipation which then led to an anal fissure in my early 20’s. I still remember when it happened and remember noticing a skin tag that had mysteriously appeared on my anus around the same time. Anyways, I ignored the fissure and though I thought it had healed I don’t think it ever fully healed because it would tear easily if I happened to have a hard BM. Anyways I had one of those tears again in my mid 30’s, but I think the tear was deeper this time as it led to an anorectal abscess a few weeks later. My primary doctor first thought I had a bartholin cyst, but after it was drained, the abscess switched “sides.” I had no idea what was going on. Totally freaked out. I felt constant soreness in the perineal area and could feel a wishbone tract leading from that area and going up both sides through the vulva. This sounds so gross but if I squeezed the tracts, I would get discharge out the anus. Finally explained this to my GP and she sent me to a well regarded colerectal surgeon because she suspected a fistula and that’s exactly what it was. So I am now 2 days into a 6-8 week period of living with two setons (two fistulas). Sitz baths with hot water help. Also using hot shower sprays and Calmoseptine after each BM to keep things as clean as possible. Swelling and pain in perineal area is mostly gone. I do have drainage. Really sucks in the romance department so I cannot wait to get these removed, but I also understand we have to follow a staged process to best preserve continence. I’ll keep folks posted on how things go, but other than having rubber band butt rings, so far so good. Word of advice, get it taken care of ASAP and find a well regarded colorectal surgeon. I wish I had taken care of this earlier. If I had, my cure may have been as simple as a prescription cream.

Jumping in this forum after i've already made a discussion of my own. I had a Perianal abscess in mid june that swelled to the size of half a golf ball. it burst on its own. Went to a CRS and he said it was most likely a fistula as a he could feel a cord fibrosis. Before the abscess I had what I thought was a swollen vein but it most like was the early stages of a fistula. Anyways, I decided to have surgery done after two abscesses. The surgeon is a very experienced CRS who performed a fistulotomy with a fellow general surgeon specializing in crs. Anyways, pain wise, it was not as bad as expected but mentally it has been pretty difficult as i'm only 22. The external wound healed fairly quickly and at week 3 check up he acknowledged that it was healing a little too quickly but he said he took care of it using some silver nitrate. Fast forward to week  12 where i'm at now. and there is no external wound or swelling. not really any pain other than the occasion itch/slight sting where the scar is. My concern is persistence or re occurrence just like everyone else. The reason being is that when I shove some tissue up there to the internal healing area there is very very small amount of clear drainage. Only detectable when I check for it with tissue. Also, it looks like small areas of the internal excision are not quite healed as seen when i spread apart anus in mirror. Is this normal for 12 weeks? I've heard of people draining for up to 6 months but i'm beginning to get a little paranoid. The external scar scars when because when I touch it I feel like it should be flatter and not chord like. I could be paranoid and anxious but I think we all are a little bit. 

I am a 26 year old female and have no history of ibd. I had a colonoscopy to rule out any obvious causes of my perianal abscess, which turned into a fistula. To be honest, the weeks leading up to the colonoscopy and the prep were the worst parts of this whole fistula ordeal. My mind led me to believe that things were and would be much worse than they actually turned out to be so far, and I freaked out for no reason. Whatever you do, do not delay surgery or getting checked for this condition (or any condition that causes a change in your bowel movements or prolonged symptoms) because the amount of pain and suffering, and the length of recovery will be greater if you do.

I underwent a fistulotomy by a general surgeon in Redwood City, California two days ago, and so far so good. I was very distressed by many of the comments below, such as the suggestion that I should only see a colorectal surgeon for this procedure. If your fistula is more complex than a simple fistula and if you have ibd, then I support that suggestion. In my case, not much of my sphincter muscle was compromised by the fistula. So again, I freaked myself out for no reason because the surgery was a success!

I have probably only taken a total of 2-3 norcos each day. I take one norco when I begin to feel slight pain, to prevent it from getting any worse. I have been told that I have a high pain tolerance, so I am justifying the use of the norcos, although I know (if I am being completely honest with myself) I can get through my recovery without them. I mention this so you all know that a simple fistulotomy and the recovery does not cause a major setback in terms of pain. The first bm was a breeze and what helped me the most was being hydrated, natural stool softeners, medicated wipes, and my sitz bath.

Do not be scared because unless you have a complex anal fistula, you will see immediate results after this procedure. I am convinced I can return to work today with ibuprofen, but have decided to heed the surgeon's warning and recover for at least one whole week with the prescribed medication before returning to my desk job. The sitz baths, cleaning of the wound, and refraining from sex are probably the worst parts of the recovery so far, and by that I mean a they are a minor annoyance. Overall I do not feel that bad, because I am following the directions and thinking positive about the end result.

Good luck, do not be scared, take deep breaths, and think positive so you can heal quickly and get on with your life- symptom free!

when was your surgery? i would refrain from saying successful surgery until the scar fully forms and it has been half a year or so without reoccurence. I hope indeed your fistula is healed. if not colorectal surgeon and cutting c ton does work. i will be 2 years fistula free now. did doctors find the reason for yours apart from ibd? like a tear in anus? you would know if you had that scraping cutting feeling during bm.

sending warm thoughts.

Monika