What to do if your child has anal fissure bleeding

Many children do not like to drink water or eat fruits, which can easily cause dry stools in children. When this happens, children are very likely to have anal fissures when defecating. When parents see anal fissures in their children, they should remain calm, find out the cause of the anal fissures, and then take the children to the hospital for examination and treatment.

What to do if your child has anal fissure bleeding

1. Keep bowel movements smooth

Let your child take laxatives or paraffin oil orally to make the stool soft and lubricated, increase high-fiber food and change bowel habits to gradually correct the occurrence of constipation.

2. Local sitz bath

Before and after bowel movements, children can take a sitz bath with 1:5000 warm potassium permanganate solution to keep the area clean.

3. Anal canal dilation

If the child's anal fissure is severe, anal canal dilation surgery may be necessary. Anal canal dilation surgery is suitable for patients with acute or chronic anal fissures without concurrent papillary hypertrophy and sentinel piles. The advantages are that it is easy to operate, does not require special equipment, has rapid therapeutic effects, and only requires daily sitz baths after surgery. After anal canal dilation, anal sphincter spasm can be eliminated and pain can be relieved immediately after the operation. After dilation, the anal fissure wound expands and opens, drainage is unobstructed, and the superficial wound can heal quickly. However, this method has its shortcomings. It may cause complications such as bleeding, perianal abscess, hemorrhoidal prolapse and short-term fecal incontinence, and the recurrence rate is relatively high.

What are the symptoms of anal fissure in children?

If a child suffers from anal fissure, there will be three typical clinical manifestations: pain, constipation, and blood in the stool.

1. Pain

Anal fissures can cause periodic pain due to defecation, which is the main symptom of anal fissures. When defecating, the feces stimulate the nerve endings on the ulcer surface, and you will immediately feel a burning pain in the anus, but the pain will ease a few minutes after defecation. This period is called the pain interval. Later, due to spasm of the internal sphincter, severe pain will occur again. This period can last from half a hour to several hours. The child will be restless and find it difficult to endure until the sphincter is fatigued, the muscles relax and the pain is relieved. But the pain occurred again when I defecated again. The above is clinically called anal fissure pain cycle. The pain may also radiate to the perineum, buttocks, inner thighs or sacrum. The child may resist defecation due to the pain and may even cry constantly.

2. Constipation

Children are unwilling to defecate due to anal pain, which may cause constipation over time and make the stool drier and harder. Constipation may aggravate anal fissures, forming a vicious cycle.

3. Blood in the stool

When children have bowel movements, there is often a small amount of fresh blood on the surface of the stool or on the toilet paper, or drops of blood. However, major bleeding is rare.

4. Others

The child's anus may experience itching and discharge, and some children with anal fissures may also have symptoms such as diarrhea.