Remember, on the Internet, the people with negative experiences tend to post more. People who have positive experiences tend to move on with their lives.
My experience:
Anal abscess surgery: around 3 cm (~1 inch) in diameter and 2 cm deep
Day 0: Surgery - This hurt. Local anesthesia and done as an outpatient procedure. It was painful and I sweated bullets the entire 15-30 minutes. Packing inserted and I rested the entire evening.
Day 1: I went back to work. Seriously, maybe my procedure was different from others or maybe I have a different pain threshold but I couldn't imagine taking days (let alone weeks off work). I love my job and my butt felt very sore and there was slight pain when sitting but it wasn't anything too bad. I work ~9 hour days and I sit for maybe 2 of those hours. I am an elementary school teacher so my job is very active. I was jogging and playing with my students during P.E.
After work, I went to the hospital to get the cavity cleaned and repacked. I had read so much about the pain and I was really nervous. It turned out to be somewhat painful but nowhere near as bad as I thought. I would say it was like getting a tattoo.
Day 2: Work again but pain had gone down a lot. After work, back to the hospital and I only felt ~20% of the pain from the first day.
Day 3-4: No change
Day 5: Packing wasn't painful AT ALL. It just felt like someone poking me with a needle without breaking the skin. Seriously...no pain. The surgeon said this was normal. Healthy granulation tissue should not hurt when touched.
From my experience, the absolute worst thing I could've done was stay home for weeks to rest. During the weekends when I wasn't working, I felt sad and depressed. I had this 'Woe is me' attitude and I just focused on the wound and the pain. I surfed the net and read all about these horror anal abscess stories.
However, on weekdays, when I was at work, I rarely thought about my butt and when I came home from work, I would be tired from work and excited to see my family. There wasn't TIME to feel sorry about myself, which was fantastic.
Anyway, that was my experience, I can't guarantee your pain level would be like mine but just know that there are people who have relatively non-traumatic experiences with anal abscess surgery.
My experience:
Anal abscess surgery: around 3 cm (~1 inch) in diameter and 2 cm deep
Day 0: Surgery - This hurt. Local anesthesia and done as an outpatient procedure. It was painful and I sweated bullets the entire 15-30 minutes. Packing inserted and I rested the entire evening.
Day 1: I went back to work. Seriously, maybe my procedure was different from others or maybe I have a different pain threshold but I couldn't imagine taking days (let alone weeks off work). I love my job and my butt felt very sore and there was slight pain when sitting but it wasn't anything too bad. I work ~9 hour days and I sit for maybe 2 of those hours. I am an elementary school teacher so my job is very active. I was jogging and playing with my students during P.E.
After work, I went to the hospital to get the cavity cleaned and repacked. I had read so much about the pain and I was really nervous. It turned out to be somewhat painful but nowhere near as bad as I thought. I would say it was like getting a tattoo.
Day 2: Work again but pain had gone down a lot. After work, back to the hospital and I only felt ~20% of the pain from the first day.
Day 3-4: No change
Day 5: Packing wasn't painful AT ALL. It just felt like someone poking me with a needle without breaking the skin. Seriously...no pain. The surgeon said this was normal. Healthy granulation tissue should not hurt when touched.
From my experience, the absolute worst thing I could've done was stay home for weeks to rest. During the weekends when I wasn't working, I felt sad and depressed. I had this 'Woe is me' attitude and I just focused on the wound and the pain. I surfed the net and read all about these horror anal abscess stories.
However, on weekdays, when I was at work, I rarely thought about my butt and when I came home from work, I would be tired from work and excited to see my family. There wasn't TIME to feel sorry about myself, which was fantastic.
Anyway, that was my experience, I can't guarantee your pain level would be like mine but just know that there are people who have relatively non-traumatic experiences with anal abscess surgery.
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I should add that the pain I felt when I had the anal abscess (before it popped) was absolutely excruciating. It felt like broken glass scraping against my butt everytime I walked, sat, or stood up.
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Sorry, I know this post was made over 2 years ago! I'm a 19 year old female and I had surgery to drain an anal abscess 2 days ago and removal of the gland that caused the abscess under general anaesthetic.
The initial pain after waking from surgery was excruciating, but after taking regular analgesics it subsided slightly.
2 days on, I've just had my packing (aquacel) changed for the first time, the nurse measured my wound and told me it is 5.5cm deep! The pain of having the packing changed was pretty bad but not as bad as I expected it to be!
I'm up and about walking short distances and mobilising normally around the house, but mobilising for too long flares the pain up.
Bought a doughnut shaped cushion today to use when I'm sitting down and it relieves pressure and pain phenomenally, especially when sitting in the car!! (I'd highly recommend getting one to anyone who's had this surgery!!)
Having to use conti-sheets on the bed at night time or on chairs when I'm sitting as the exudate from the wound is still quite a lot (and embarrassing to say the least!)
Hopefully in the next week the pain will subside and I won't feel as drained??
The initial pain after waking from surgery was excruciating, but after taking regular analgesics it subsided slightly.
2 days on, I've just had my packing (aquacel) changed for the first time, the nurse measured my wound and told me it is 5.5cm deep! The pain of having the packing changed was pretty bad but not as bad as I expected it to be!
I'm up and about walking short distances and mobilising normally around the house, but mobilising for too long flares the pain up.
Bought a doughnut shaped cushion today to use when I'm sitting down and it relieves pressure and pain phenomenally, especially when sitting in the car!! (I'd highly recommend getting one to anyone who's had this surgery!!)
Having to use conti-sheets on the bed at night time or on chairs when I'm sitting as the exudate from the wound is still quite a lot (and embarrassing to say the least!)
Hopefully in the next week the pain will subside and I won't feel as drained??
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My tush was very sore and I didnt now what it was. After asking my mom, she said that hemmoroids at my age is normal. (38). She bought me cream and I use it religiously.
After about a week, I noticed this hard lump that was beyond tender. Not only did the lump hurt but my entire hip hurt. I could not sit, stand, walk, or lay down. I went to my local er. on a sunday and was told I had a perianal abscess. They didnt tell me the size of it, but to the touch it was the size of an egg. The doctor gave me antibiotics and percocet and sent me home.
When I got home, my temperature was 102.8. I needed to lay down but couldnt cause of the pain. I took a percocet and fell asleep. I called my pcp first thing in the morning and was told to come in immediately. His office is literally on the corner of my block and I couldnt walk to get to him. I took a cab.
He took me right away and gave me a lidocaine shot right in the abscess. It didnt tickle. I was trying really hard not to look what he was doing. All of a sudden I feel a huge needle in my bum and it hurt. The lidocaine did NOTHING. He evidently missed the cavity and inserted the needle again missing the cavity. I was biting that table and crying. He told me there was no way he could send me home in the condition I was in and called a surgeon who told me to come right in. I called a cab and off I went with my daughter....
I got to the surgeons office and she was waiting for me. Bend me over the operating table and tells me she has to numb me again. I get two more lidocaine shots and she proceeds to cut me. I didnt feel that, but she inserted some tool into the actual wound and I felt it all. I was screaming. I thought I was going to faint. I started begging her to knock me out but she said she couldnt at her office... I had to bare it and I did.
The next morning. I wake up with a tugging sensation in my bum. I started getting worried but figured it was normal since I had just had surgery. As the day went on, the sensation turned into pain. By then it was too late to call the surgeon so I just went to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up and the abscess was back and it was the size of a handball. I immediately call the surgeon and she tells me to go to the hospital shes affiliated with. She said her surgical team would be waiting for me. I call a cab and off to the hospital I go.
The hospital was absolutely disgusting. I was completely ignored for over 5 hours. I couldnt sit and begged for a bed to lay down. I went 4 hours suffering. Not so much as a tylenol for pain. So I left and figured I would just go to the docs office the next morning.
I couldnt sleep. If I dozed, and moved an inch, I would wake up in pain. I used a heating pad to help with the pain... at about 6am I got up to pee. I couldnt sit cause of the pain so I squatted and felt was seemed like a needle. I wiped and see a ton of blood and pus on the toilet paper. I look in the toilet and its just filled with pus. It ruptured on its own! So now im doing better.
I call my doctor and he tells me to come in. I get there and he tells me the surgeon didnt make the cut big enough so it started to heal. She should have also put a seton in which she did not. He takes a syringe and starts to flush out the cavity with peroxide. I felt it all. He then inserts a piece of rubber into the hole and I was screaming. Finally it was done and over with......
A week after this ordeal, I felt the tugging again and got really worried, so I made a hot sitz bath and it ruptured on its own again. Since then I have been bleeding (not a lot) and a clear discharge. Its not smelly or anything but its there. Its been 4 weeks since the last rupture but its still oozing and bleeding.
Am I getting a fistula? Do they knock you out for a fistula surgery? Is the recovery pain really bad?
After about a week, I noticed this hard lump that was beyond tender. Not only did the lump hurt but my entire hip hurt. I could not sit, stand, walk, or lay down. I went to my local er. on a sunday and was told I had a perianal abscess. They didnt tell me the size of it, but to the touch it was the size of an egg. The doctor gave me antibiotics and percocet and sent me home.
When I got home, my temperature was 102.8. I needed to lay down but couldnt cause of the pain. I took a percocet and fell asleep. I called my pcp first thing in the morning and was told to come in immediately. His office is literally on the corner of my block and I couldnt walk to get to him. I took a cab.
He took me right away and gave me a lidocaine shot right in the abscess. It didnt tickle. I was trying really hard not to look what he was doing. All of a sudden I feel a huge needle in my bum and it hurt. The lidocaine did NOTHING. He evidently missed the cavity and inserted the needle again missing the cavity. I was biting that table and crying. He told me there was no way he could send me home in the condition I was in and called a surgeon who told me to come right in. I called a cab and off I went with my daughter....
I got to the surgeons office and she was waiting for me. Bend me over the operating table and tells me she has to numb me again. I get two more lidocaine shots and she proceeds to cut me. I didnt feel that, but she inserted some tool into the actual wound and I felt it all. I was screaming. I thought I was going to faint. I started begging her to knock me out but she said she couldnt at her office... I had to bare it and I did.
The next morning. I wake up with a tugging sensation in my bum. I started getting worried but figured it was normal since I had just had surgery. As the day went on, the sensation turned into pain. By then it was too late to call the surgeon so I just went to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up and the abscess was back and it was the size of a handball. I immediately call the surgeon and she tells me to go to the hospital shes affiliated with. She said her surgical team would be waiting for me. I call a cab and off to the hospital I go.
The hospital was absolutely disgusting. I was completely ignored for over 5 hours. I couldnt sit and begged for a bed to lay down. I went 4 hours suffering. Not so much as a tylenol for pain. So I left and figured I would just go to the docs office the next morning.
I couldnt sleep. If I dozed, and moved an inch, I would wake up in pain. I used a heating pad to help with the pain... at about 6am I got up to pee. I couldnt sit cause of the pain so I squatted and felt was seemed like a needle. I wiped and see a ton of blood and pus on the toilet paper. I look in the toilet and its just filled with pus. It ruptured on its own! So now im doing better.
I call my doctor and he tells me to come in. I get there and he tells me the surgeon didnt make the cut big enough so it started to heal. She should have also put a seton in which she did not. He takes a syringe and starts to flush out the cavity with peroxide. I felt it all. He then inserts a piece of rubber into the hole and I was screaming. Finally it was done and over with......
A week after this ordeal, I felt the tugging again and got really worried, so I made a hot sitz bath and it ruptured on its own again. Since then I have been bleeding (not a lot) and a clear discharge. Its not smelly or anything but its there. Its been 4 weeks since the last rupture but its still oozing and bleeding.
Am I getting a fistula? Do they knock you out for a fistula surgery? Is the recovery pain really bad?
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Sad to say... it turned into a fistula!
I have another surgery scheduled for December. However, the last 2 months have been a piece of cake! A fistula's pain is NOTHING like an anal abscess. It gets a little sore after bowel movements, but my daily life isn't too bad. The fistula is constantly draining so it never builds up. Most of the time, I don't even remember I have the fistula.
I have gauze stuck to my butt everyday though! I haven't missed a day of work due to pain from the fistula. I still try to exercise and play sports one day a week. I definitely can't go all out like before though. I did have to take one day off so I could get a colonoscopy. No Crohn's disease for me! I was pretty dang happy when I got the results.
I switched hospitals (I was at a general hospital) and I am getting my surgery done at the top hospital for this procedure in my country. It's an entire hospital that only deals with colorectal issues (8 CR surgeons, and over a hundred rooms...all for patients with butt problems!) and they've told me my fistula should be relatively straight forward. Recurrence rate should be at 0.8% ... and they don't use "internet" data. They do close to 1000 fistula surgeries a year and they've been at this for decades.
My advice to people with butt problems... go to a CR surgeon! My CR surgeon told me my previous (general) surgeon had done a pretty bad job and caused some unnecessary damage that most likely contributed to the wound developing a fistula.
Good luck all!
I have another surgery scheduled for December. However, the last 2 months have been a piece of cake! A fistula's pain is NOTHING like an anal abscess. It gets a little sore after bowel movements, but my daily life isn't too bad. The fistula is constantly draining so it never builds up. Most of the time, I don't even remember I have the fistula.
I have gauze stuck to my butt everyday though! I haven't missed a day of work due to pain from the fistula. I still try to exercise and play sports one day a week. I definitely can't go all out like before though. I did have to take one day off so I could get a colonoscopy. No Crohn's disease for me! I was pretty dang happy when I got the results.
I switched hospitals (I was at a general hospital) and I am getting my surgery done at the top hospital for this procedure in my country. It's an entire hospital that only deals with colorectal issues (8 CR surgeons, and over a hundred rooms...all for patients with butt problems!) and they've told me my fistula should be relatively straight forward. Recurrence rate should be at 0.8% ... and they don't use "internet" data. They do close to 1000 fistula surgeries a year and they've been at this for decades.
My advice to people with butt problems... go to a CR surgeon! My CR surgeon told me my previous (general) surgeon had done a pretty bad job and caused some unnecessary damage that most likely contributed to the wound developing a fistula.
Good luck all!
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If your wound is still draining after the cavity was properly and completely cleaned out, it most likely means you have a fistula if it's still draining after a few weeks. Go to a CR surgeon and get it checked out.
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You are a gentleman / lady for posting this. It's true most people will post the negatives.
I will stop reading after your post.
I will stop reading after your post.
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Hi, I had a small superficial perianal abscess lanced & drained 4.5 weeks ago, there is no signs of a fistula, they did explore the anal cavity during the operation. Its been healing slowly but if course Im still quite nervous that I'll get another one. This was very random, I don't have Crohns or any kind of bowel problem, I had a fissure 20 years ago that was was fixed, the occasional bleed when Ive done a hard motion...I still have a slight opening in my wound area...My questions, can this take a long time to heal? Does the scar tissue remain tender for a long period of time? The area can get irritated some days..Any information on what Ive wrote would help...thanks..Tanya
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Had surgery on December for perianal abscess Dr.s left fistula and now it hurts on the outside of my butt chick do u think I'm getting an abscess again pls reply back
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I developed an anal abscess that had pockets. My initial surgery was unsuccessful because the surgeon only lanced one of the two pockets.
I went to a second surgeon, who laced the indrained pocket and put in a seton.
It's been 4.5 weeks after the second surgery, and it feels a little better each day.
Warning - when the first surgeon's surgery didn't succeeed, their office suggested I go to a random ER for the second one. I'm glad I didn't, since only a survivalist would take the time to put in thecseton I needed.
I went to a second surgeon, who laced the indrained pocket and put in a seton.
It's been 4.5 weeks after the second surgery, and it feels a little better each day.
Warning - when the first surgeon's surgery didn't succeeed, their office suggested I go to a random ER for the second one. I'm glad I didn't, since only a survivalist would take the time to put in thecseton I needed.
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Hi, I had a very superficial abscess just like you! I had surgery 7 weeks ago and the tiny incision site is still draining . Very small amount of puss and sometimes a tiny spot of blood. I have no health issues. I'm 33 years old and I'm very active. My dr has no answers for me as to why this happened and has no answers when I will be healed completely . Im getting married in a month from now and I'm getting really worried this will not be healed . I've read so many things about other people's experiences and I'm getting nervous this will never heal or will come back! Like I said it's tiny drainage only when I wipe once in a while it shows up but definitely daily there is a small amount . I'm doing sits baths 3x per day . Once before work and two times again after work . How are you doing now? Have you healed yet? Any advise you can give I would appreciate! I'm getting so worried this will never go away!!!
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I just had the surgery Dec. 24 (yay me!). For 2 1/2 months I suffered from hemorrhoids and a fissure or whatever. I never got it checked until the week I felt a very severe pain in my right butt cheek. When I finally went to the ER, he found an abscess. Fast forward to the day after and I can’t remember the pain but during the dressing change, it was so severe, even with the dilaudid. It stunk so bad also. Fast forward again to my time in the skilled nursing home, and I’ve been taking just one Percocet half hour before my dressing change. Even with half of one, it just feels slightly pinchy. it’s still quite big (4cm deep, and I think 1cm wide and 2 long... all I care about is the depth honestly). I get daily dressing change and I’m so glad it doesn’t smell anymore. Normally, I can go all day with little pain, but I think any pain or discomfort is with the actual dressing tape. Optifoam is my favorite but it’s wxoensice and my insurance will only cover 12 a month. My poor mom is going to learn how to do my changes for most of the days in the week. The changes don’t last long (only about 5 minutes), so I’m glad for that. I’m done with my antibiotics. My second follow up is on the 22 of Jan. He said it’s healing up quite well, considering he said he could put his fist in it originally. It’s been a scary experience for me and I can’t wait until it gets even better so I can go work out again. I’ve had to retrain myself on wiping after poops, but I do mostly well lol. Sadly, because of how close the wound is to my heiny hole, I may miss some, which the nurse will wipe up. I’ve been taking Colace (240mg) a day so it seems the mushier my poo, the easier to wipe lol. And it’s been helping my hemorrhoids heal also. Ugh as I’ve said, I can’t wait for it to heal. I guess I’ve been blessed since a lot of people seemed to have had bad surgery pains, at least worse than you and I. But it definitely hasn’t been a cake walk for me lol. I hate it. I hate that it’s in such an awkward area. I was so glad to get my picc line out last Sat. That hurt worse than my wound lol
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