Q: What are hemorrhoids?

A: Hemorrhoids are dilated veins that appear around your anus.

Q: What causes hemorrhoids?

A: Hemorrhoids can be caused due to a variety of factors. Among them are genetic predisposition, constipation, spending too much time sitting on the toilet (reading, texting, etc), pregnancy.

Q: Can I prevent hemorrhoids?

A: sometimes you can. Unless you are predisposed to have them, you can prevent them. One major contributing factor is constipation and if you eat 30-40 grams of fiber a day you can prevent these or at least prevent them from getting larger. PRegnancy can almost assure some type of hemorrhoid formation, but usually this regress and disappear. The same rule applies regarding fiber and constipation for pregnant women. Also, avoid sitting in the toilet past having a bowel movement. There is no reason to sit on the toilet for longer than 5 minutes. Sitting reading or texting will promote vessel dilation that leads to hemorrhoids. So do your business and move.

Q: How are hemorrhoids treated?

A: Hemorrhoids are treated depending on the size. Smaller hemorrhoids will go away with creams and medications. When they get larger then they require infrared coagulation, banding, or surgery. The m, most effective treatments are banding for smaller ones and surgery for the larger ones. Hemorrhoids sometimes are large and have stretched the skin around the anus preventing a seal and these need surgery to eliminate the redundant skin or tags.

Q: What are the symptoms of hemorrhoids?

A: The symptoms will depend on the size and condition. The obvious symptom is a bulge around the anus. Others bleed intermittently. Usually, bleeding is pain-free. If you have pain you may have an anal fissure and this is a different condition. And please never assume anal bleeding is hemorrhoids, see your doctor always for this. Hemorrhoids also can be purely internal and just give you anal itch and soiling of the underwear. 

Q: Is hemorrhoid surgery painful?

A: I must say, yes. It is painful and the worse time is the first week. IT will eventually go well and the results are good, but there is no way around the pain. We can ameliorate this by giving you stool softeners, creams and also recommending a sitz bath daily (sitting in warm water). The key for hemorrhoids surgery is to not wait until they are very large.

Q: What are hemorrhoid urgent situations?

A: Hemorrhoids can clot and cause extreme pain. IF a hemorrhoid is tender to touch and hurts a lot we can help by evacuating the clot. a more serious problem is when hemorrhoids stick out and strangulates causing an urgent situation and then we must do surgery soon. 

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Hemorrhoids surgery is not easy and it is necessary at times. Like any other condition, each person's needs are different and we must examine you to determine the best course of action. Call us or request an appointment. Thank you

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