Anal fissures can be extremely painful when having a bowel movement and for some minutes afterwards. The pain is often described as like passing "razor blades" or "broken glass" and it can last for some 10 to 15 minutes after a bowel movement. There may also be some bright red blood visible on the toilet paper. The pain can be even more severe if the bowel movement is hard. The big problem for example when children suffer from anal fissures is that they come to know that passing a motion will be painful, so they "hold on" leading to a no win situation where ever larger and harder faeces form causing even more pain when they are finally passed. An anal fissure is a small tear in the skin around the opening of the anus and is usually situated in line with the cleft of the buttocks. Anal fissures are common in both adults and children and can be divided into two types - those that have appeared quite recently are called acute anal fissures and those that have not healed ever after 6 weeks have elapsed are called chronic anal fissures or persistent anal fissures. It is thought that the main cause of anal fissures is constipation where the strain of passing hard stools can result in the small tears in the skin of the anus. If the constipation continues then it becomes very difficult for the fissures to heal. With a chronic anal fissure the walls of the small tear can become thickened. There are two rings of muscle which control the opening of the anus and if the stool is to pass through comfortably then both these muscles need to relax. While the external anal muscle tenses and relaxes freely, the internal anal muscle does not. The pain of the annual fissure may cause the internal anal muscle to go into spasm, thus raising the pressure within the anus. This pressure then makes it harder to pass a stool resulting in worse constipation and so a vicious circle occurs. Other causes can be explosive diarrhea and less commonly, the insertion of foreign bodies or anal intercourse. Anal fissures can also occur in patients who have other medical conditions such as Crohn's disease. This is a chronic autoimmune disease that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract but usually occurs in the ileium (that is the area where the small and large intestine meet). In spite of the pain and discomfort, it is important to know that this is not a dangerous condition and it can be treated. A natural healing product can be helpful to all ages in treating this condition. Without treatment, there could be permanent scarring that may cause pain and bleeding whenever there is a bowel movement. Amoils offers all natural treatments for common conditions and ailments using essential oils. Visit our