Guide To Getting A Hemorrhoidectomy

Sitz Baths After Surgery

An individual who has had a hemorrhoidectomy will need to have sitz baths several times per day following their procedure to promote the successful healing of their wounds. A sitz bath is a bath where an individual fills a bathtub with between six and eight inches of warm, clean water, or uses a special tub for this purpose. The patient then sits in the bath with their knees against their chest for twenty minutes. An individual who has undergone a hemorrhoidectomy should also do Kegel exercises when they are taking their sitz baths three times per day.

Kegel exercises consist of the contraction of the anorectal muscles. These contractions should be held for a minimum of five seconds at a time. This Kegel process should be repeated in each sitz bath for a minimum of between three and five minutes. In addition to the regular sitz baths three times per day, a patient should also sit in a sitz bath following each bowel movement for the first three days. Sitz baths help patients avoid infection, discomfort, and pain after a hemorrhoidectomy.

Complications Of Hemorrhoids

While a surgical hemorrhoidectomy is known to be the most effective and successful method of treatment for severe hemorrhoids, it is also known to have the greatest rate of complications. Around five percent of patients who undergo a hemorrhoidectomy or other surgical procedures to treat hemorrhoids will have complications such as bleeding, the development of an infection, wounds that do not heal, urinary retention, and fistula formation. It is possible for an individual who undergoes a surgical procedure to treat their hemorrhoids to have an adverse or extreme reaction to the anesthesia.

Some individuals may have problems with passing stool if they experience excessive swelling near the area of the incisions. Some individuals experience more pain, discomfort, bleeding, discharge, and itching in the days that follow their hemorrhoid surgery than others. The most common complication reported with surgical procedures used to treat hemorrhoids is persistent pain that may be disabling for two weeks following surgery.