fistula surgery - still problems

Skin, nail and hair health
1

Thanks for reading. I’ll make this message relatively simple:

Male / age 48

2019 - Painful abscess in / near anus.

Got it checked out, and had surgery on this from a known anal surgeon.

2019 - pain never went away really. Went back in to have it looked at by above surgeon. Said that it has now become an fistula.

Early 2020 - Had fistula surgery. Doctor said that it went well, and I should recover without any problems.

Since then,I no longer have the pain that I had when the abscess was present, but I now have anal leakage. My butt is wet most of the time. It’s not a good feeling. It’s not feces, it’s like a water that leaks out. At first I thought that it was coming out of possible another hole / fistula near my anus, but apparently it’s not.

I went back to the same surgeon a few times for follow ups after the surgery, and the last 2 or 3 times, I mentioned to him about this. He thought that was really odd, and he feels bad that I am still having problems. He has “looked” at the surgery that he did, and says that the fistula is gone, and has not returned, and that his work looks really nice and that it has healed well. He mentioned also, that my muscles back there are working too ( as he had me flex them a few times ). He said that I should do strengthening exercises, and I have been doing those - but it has not seemed to have worked ( when you act like you’re holding gas in for 10 seconds, and do this over and over )

He doesn’t know why this is happening. Whenever I need to pee, I usually find myself dropping my drawers and wiping my butt, even though I didn’t go #2, but just to have a sense of dryness back there.

Any thoughts about what I should do? It’s been a year with this, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get any better…

Thank you for listening,

-Jeff

2

What liquid is it?
Hello, i just got mine operated 9 days ago. Right now everyday i need to change my pads twice. i am so depressed.

3

hey jeff, i had a fistulotomy two years ago and your symptoms were very similar to mine. that discharge is normal, think of it as a scab that is too wet and the skin cells die off. its the wound constantly trying to heal itself. i had bouts of pain and bleeding for almost a full year. talk to doctor if youre concerned though

4

Hi Gabe and Deontan,

Sorry for the late reply. I was having trouble logging back on.

So, Deontana - to answer your question: It’s just fluid - like water secretions. I’ve had this for quite sometime, it’s a nuisance. I feel the need to wipe, even when I haven’t gone to use the bathroom. However, you’ve only had surgery 9 days ago ( when you wrote this reply ) - I wouldn’t worry about that at all. Totally normal, but after more than a year - which is what I have going on - I’d be a little concerned.

To Gabe - Thanks for your reply as well, but I think having ‘leakage’ for more than a year is a little unsettling. Specially when I have spoken to the doctors and they are puzzled to as to why this is happening. I’m trying to do the floor exercises, strengthening the muscles down there, but so far no change. How long did you have leakage for?

Thanks for your replies,

-Jeff

5

hi Jeff.
how did you get on?

6

So, again, sorry for my late response.

So, this is what’s happened / happening:

I went back to my surgeon, he wanted me to do have some tests done. So, I went and had those done - very humiliating set of tests, but what can a person do… so, I went back to see the surgeon after he got the results..

He looked at the results, and said that “Yes, the leakage that I am receiving is indeed from the surgery that he performed when fixing my fistula. Apparently the fistula was going through a muscle near the anus walls, and there was a divit that was created, and that is what’s giving me this wetness. It is indeed leaking because there’s that opening that shouldn’t be there. Apparently the divot is 1/2”. I am not sure if that’s 1/2" long or deep, but nonetheless, that’s what’s causing this.

So, with that said, I am scheduled to have surgery again to fix whatever happened wrong in the previous surgery! That will be on November 1, 2022. He very very sorry that I am going through all of this, and I am too. I don’t know what to do - he’s a great guy, and I looked him up and have many good reviews as a colon / rectal surgeon, but I have never had a second opinion. He said that he will be doing the surgery, and also said that this is something new to him, and he has never had to do anything like this before, and when he’s talked to other doctors around the country, it’s pretty rare that a surgery like this has to be done. He said that he would be graphing some skin in there from my, I would assume, my butt, and filling in in there to fill the 1/2" area. He said that I would have dissolvable stiches in there and it would take about 1 month for it to heal.

He also said that the likeliness of this being repaired after the surgery is 60 - 70%. It’s okay odds, but I wish I would know that it would be 100%!

UGH! I really don’t want to do this, but seems like with my luck everything has to be done a couple of times. I was / am concerned that gonig back into things has the possibility of making it worse, and I mntioned that to him a couple of times in our chat, and he doesn’t think that would be a possibility at all, he said that it would either work or it wouldn’t, but it wouldn’t get worse.

Anyone else have ever heard of such a scenerio as thos one I am going through? If you have, can you please let me know what the success rate is, or how you are feeling?

Thank you!

-Jeff