Here you will find information about patient care after hemorrhoids or piles surgery as well as hemorrhoids or piles laser. The length of the recovery period after hemorrhoid surgery or laser heavily depends on postoperative care.
If you undergo hemorrhoid laser surgery, you will be discharged immediately after surgery. It is recommended to rest and not leave home on the first day after surgery.
Avoid eating heavy meals as long as you wear the wound dressing because they can stimulate bowel movements. If your hemorrhoid surgery is not extensive, you can eat all food items, especially those rich in fiber, from the day after surgery. Otherwise, try to have light foods for 3 to 4 days.
The wound dressing will be removed the next day morning. In hemorrhoid laser surgery, only the surgical site is dressed and there will be no rectal area dressing. Therefore, do not worry about internal dressing anymore. If the dressing sticks to the hemorrhoid surgery site, you remove it more easily after wetting it. Those who undergo hemorrhoid laser therapy do not need to change the dressing.
Sit in a basin of warm water 2-3 times a day from the day after surgery. Open and close the surgical site inside the water to prevent infections and abscesses. If patients with hemorrhoids have difficulty with sitting in a basin of warm water, they firmly place the basin of warm water on the toilet, as shown in the following image, and then use it.
If you have pain after hemorrhoid surgery, you can take oral painkillers and light sleeping pills. There is no need to take antibiotics if you do not have concomitant diseases such as diabetes. You can begin taking laxatives the day after surgery if your surgery is not extensive. Otherwise, it is better to postpone it for 2-3 days. Be careful not to get constipation or diarrhea, and if you get diarrhea by taking laxatives, reduce the amount or stop it completely. If you delay the act of defecation too much, you will suffer from severe constipation. Also, if you don’t have normal bowel movements with normal caliber, you will eventually suffer from anal stricture. So do not have a light diet for a long time after the operation.
It is quite normal to see a few drops of blood while drying the area after defection. However, if bleeding persists for more than one month, a colonoscopy should be performed to examine the colon for the cause of bleeding. Patients aged over 40 years who visit a specialist with bleeding should undergo a colonoscopy before hemorrhoid surgery.
In the first few months after hemorrhoid surgery, patients with severe constipation may have light bleeding or slight irritation. Such patients should consult their physician and get the necessary advice to improve their condition as soon as possible. It is better to avoid fasting during the first few months after hemorrhoid surgery.
Patients with hemorrhoids or those who have recently undergone hemorrhoid surgery or hemorrhoid laser are recommended not to use ordinary paper towels for drying the anal area; they are better to use wet wipes or flushable wet wipes for kids. In some cases, the physician may prescribe a Diclofenac suppository to relieve pain after the dressing is removed. You can you suppositories as shown below. It is better for the patient to use injectable or oral painkillers, and the use of suppositories is not recommended in the early stages.
One way to prevent hemorrhoids and other anorectal diseases is to reduce the pressure applied to the anal area. For this purpose, you can use a soft seat or hemorrhoid pillow. If you sit on a hard surface for a long time during the day, it is recommended to put a medical pillow on the surface to reduce the pressure on the anus and also get up after every 30 minutes of sitting. You can get medical and donut-shaped pillows from pharmacies.
Post-hemorrhoid surgery pain
Patients will certainly feel pain and irritation in the anal area after removing the hemorrhoid paque in a surgical procedure called hemorrhoidectomy. Two important points that you should keep in mind for pain relief after hemorrhoid surgery are as follows:
Use the suppository prescribed by your doctor to empty the stomach and intestine content the night before surgery in a way that you do not need to defecate for 48 hours. In addition, the physician may prescribe you a laxative to prevent constipation. If you note these two points, you will have no or very mild pain after the first defecation.
In the case of laser surgery, the recovery period will not be longer than one week and the postoperative pain can be easily controlled with painkillers prescribed by the physician. By contrast, patients who undergo conventional hemorrhoid surgery (using blades and cauters) have to tolerate severe pain for a long time, because surgery using blades and cauters lacks the delicacy of surgery with a superthin fiber laser and may cause damage to a large part of the anal tissue. Moreover, contrary to laser equipment, surgical blades and cauters cannot repair the affected vessels and nerves at the same time.
To control post-hemorrhoid surgery pain, it is recommended to take painkillers on time as prescribed by your physician. Even if you feel no pain, do not quit taking painkillers for at least three days.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) about post-hemorrhoid surgery care
1-What is the treatment for post-hemorrhoid surgery infections?
It is noteworthy that hemorrhoid surgery using a high-power laser causes no infection at the surgical site. By contrast, the surgical site may get infected after hemorrhoid surgery with blades and cauters. In such cases, the wound may burst and cause infectious and foul-smelling discharges. As soon as you notice these complications, you should contact your physician and start taking the medications prescribed by the physician. It is also recommended to visit your physician or a nearby clinic for changing the wound dressing.
2-How long does it take for hemorrhoids to heal after surgery?
Patients who undergo hemorrhoid laser surgery need to rest at home only one night and they can start walking the next. Depending on the physiological conditions and the surgery extent, it takes about 3-6 days for patients to return to their workplaces. The recovery period after conventional hemorrhoid surgery may last for more than 2 months. In addition, patients cannot return to their workplace until one month. It is quite normal that patients see a few drops of blood during the recovery period. The surgical wound will heal about one week after laser surgery and about 2 months after conventional surgery.
3-What is the treatment for post-hemorrhoid surgery pain?
Patients undergoing hemorrhoid surgery are recommended to take painkillers prescribed by their physician to relieve pain. Sitting in a basin o warm water, especially after defecation, helps reduce pain and inflammation. Since taking painkillers and antibiotics leads to constipation and aggravates pain after hemorrhoid surgery, patients are recommended to take a laxative and follow a high-fiber diet to experience easy and painless defecation. Note that diarrhea and constipation both equally cause pain and increase the risk of recurrence after hemorrhoid surgery. The severity of pain in patients undergoing hemorrhoid laser surgery is 70% less than that of patients undergoing conventional hemorrhoid surgery.
4-How are wounds sutured in hemorrhoid surgery?
Hemorrhoid surgery wounds are sutured depending on the surgery type and tools. When patients undergo conventional surgery using surgical blades and knives, absorbable sutures are used to close the wound; there is no need to remove these sutures later. In hemorrhoid laser surgery, the operation causes no wound to be sutured. In fact, the laser repairs the vessels and nerves after making incisions for treating hemorrhoids. That is why hemorrhoid laser surgery requires a very short recovery period.
5-Is it normal to have bleeding after hemorrhoid surgery?
It is quite normal that you see a few drops of blood up to 2 months after hemorrhoids or piles surgery. You need to contact your physician if you have constipation or severe bleeding after defecation. Take a laxative to control constipation. Be careful not to get diarrhea or constipation because both can cause abnormal bleeding and increase the risk of hemorrhoid recurrence.
6-Is yellow discharge or blood after hemorrhoid surgery normal or not?
After laser surgery, patients will not have yellow discharges, and it is quite normal to see a drop of blood until two months if they do not have constipation. If patients have foul-smelling and infected discharges and severe bleeding, they should visit their surgeon or a surgery clinic.
7-How is stool after hemorrhoid surgery?
General surgeons usually prescribe a laxative for patients because most patients suffer from constipation after hemorrhoid surgery. In addition, general surgeons prescribe patients use a Bisacodyl suppository the night before surgery to completely empty their intestines. Patients are also recommended to have a light meal or soup the night after surgery so that they do not need to defecate for one to two days. Then patients can take a laxative to have easy and painless defecation. Constipation control is one of the most important factors in preventing hemorrhoid recurrence.