Anal Fissure

Diagnosis

Diagnosis begins with a patient's history of the problem, but it must be confirmed by physical examination. Sometimes a fissure may be immediately visible. In other cases, a doctor might need an anoscope to view the anal canal.

To rule out other disorders, doctors might also use:

• A proctoscope — To examine the rectum and lower portion of the colon
• A flexible sigmoidoscope — A thin tube with a lighted camera inside the tip that allows doctors to view the lining of the rectum and sigmoid colon as a magnified image on a television screen

If the fissure is especially painful, the patient might be given general anesthesia for the examination.

The fissure's location can give doctors clues to whether the fissure might be a symptom of another disorder. A fissure that occurs at the side of the anal opening, rather than the back or front, is more likely to be a sign of another disorder, such as inflammatory bowel disease.