I suffered for years from anal fissures. After trying over-the-counter medications, inserts, salves, and other read-about self-help attempts, I was able to heal them with a solution of my own. My success came with cleansing the tears with a betadine solution.
Now for the back story. I like many others I have read about, had suffered off and on for years literally with these fissures. I first assumed the pain, and intense itching were caused by hemorrhoids, so this was how I was treating them. This treatment style gave temporary relief, but would eventually return. I even used doctor-prescribed cortisone inserts for the "hemorrhoids". Again, I had temporary relief, that returned once I stopped using them.
I decided to investigate further what was going on "down there" with the help of a small mirror. I noticed these seemed more like tears rather than hemorrhoids. I had two that I would deal with off and on. My symptoms were pain during bowel movements that felt like I was passing something scraping my anus. This of course was the fissure opening up and tearing. I would also have intense itching, especially at night while sleeping, or at least trying to sleep. As you may or may not know, itching can often be a sign of an area healing, which is what I assume these fissures were trying to do with little success.
Once I figured out these symptoms were from fissures and nothing else, it was time to treat them accordingly. Just like a cut on a finger heals much more rapidly when kept clean and disinfected, my treatment for the fissures followed the same logic. Keep the area bacteria free, and allow the body to do what it does best, which is self-heal.
My routine was to add a few drops of betadine solution onto a wetted facial tissue. I used the facial tissue because it held together better, and the I could just flush it when finished. After cleaning myself as usual after having a BM, I then gently massaged the anus area with the wetted/betadine tissue, concentrating on the fissure area. The betadine would also provide immediate pain relief, after a slight initial sting. I would then give a final tp wipe, and go about my day.
After several days, I noticed less and less pain, both during BM's and at night. Within several weeks, it became obvious these things had healed. Again, using the cut finger analogy, by keeping the fissures as germ free as possible, the body did the rest of the work. I can only assume that the other methods gave temporary relief because they masked the pain, or only partially killed the bacteria around the tears. By using the betadine, I was able really keep the area germ free.
I am writing this article up only after being free from my fissures for over a month, with no indications of this being a temporary fix. I have no pain or itching, and no indications of a tear during BM's.
Betadine brand was what I used, but I do know there are other similar iodine solutions out there. Having used it in a medical professional setting in the past, I know it works great for keeping bacteria and germs out of cuts. When you think about a fissure, that's really all it is too.
I hope my success story becomes yours as well. I was encouraged to share this by my spouse, who saw me suffer for years, knowing I had found a solution to my problem. It was sitting on our shelf all along, ready to clean the next cut, or in this case, the next fissure.