What this experience covers
This experience focuses specifically on pain after lateral internal sphincterotomy (LIS) — what types of pain people describe, how intense each one is, when different pains peak and resolve, and the emotional toll of navigating recovery pain after already enduring months or years of fissure pain.
It is a composite drawn from many anonymised accounts. Not one person’s story, but the shared patterns across many recoveries.
If you are looking for a general week-by-week recovery overview, see the related experience on LIS surgery recovery week by week. If you are still deciding whether to have LIS, see the experience on LIS surgery decision and recovery. This page is specifically about the pain — its character, its timeline, and its gradual resolution.
The pattern
The pain people expect vs the pain they get
The single most consistent theme across accounts is surprise. People who have lived with chronic fissure pain — the sharp, tearing, burning sensation during bowel movements and the hours of throbbing spasm afterwards — brace themselves for surgical pain to be similar or worse.
What they describe instead is a fundamentally different kind of pain. The fissure pain — that specific, recognisable signature — is often gone from the moment they wake up. What replaces it is surgical soreness: a dull, raw, bruised feeling at the site. Uncomfortable, yes. But categorically different from what they were living with.
This distinction matters enormously for people preparing for LIS. The pain is not gone. But the pain is changed.
Types of pain people describe
People identify several distinct pain types during LIS recovery:
- Incision site soreness — a dull, bruised, aching sensation around the surgical cut. Present from day one. Most intense in the first three to five days. Described as “like sitting on a bruise.”
- Bowel movement pain — stinging or rawness during bowel movements in the first one to two weeks. Consistently described as less intense than fissure bowel movements, but still uncomfortable. Soft stools make a significant difference.
- Spasm pain — some people describe brief spasms in the anal area during the first week. These are typically short-lived and much milder than the sustained spasms a fissure causes.
- Gas pain — passing gas can sting or cause brief discomfort in the early days while the surgical site is fresh.
- Phantom fissure pain — a number of people describe moments where they feel the old fissure pain briefly, even though the fissure has been treated. This is thought to be the nervous system still reacting to patterns it learned during months of chronic pain. It typically fades within weeks.
The pain timeline
Days 1 to 3: the sharpest window
This is when pain is at its highest. People describe needing prescribed pain relief and finding the first bowel movement anxiety-inducing. The incision site soreness is constant. Sitting is uncomfortable. But even at its worst, many people say it is manageable — especially compared to what they were enduring before surgery.
Days 4 to 7: the shift begins
Pain drops noticeably for most people during this window. The incision site is still sore but less so. Bowel movements become less of an ordeal. Many people transition from prescription to over-the-counter pain relief. The emotional relief of improvement is significant.
Weeks 2 to 3: settling
The majority of surgical pain resolves during this period. Bowel movements are becoming routine rather than events. Occasional twinges or brief discomfort replace the constant awareness of the first week. Many people return to work and daily activities.
Weeks 4 to 6: residual sensations
Most people describe being largely pain-free by this stage. Occasional sensitivity, a brief sting, or awareness at the site may continue. These become less frequent and less noticeable over time.
Months 2 to 3: the new normal
Pain is resolved for most people. The contrast with their pre-surgery life is striking. People describe gradually trusting their body again — no longer bracing for pain with every bowel movement.
The emotional weight of pain
What many people do not expect is the emotional dimension. After months or years of chronic fissure pain, the sudden change — even when it is an improvement — can be disorienting. People describe:
- Waiting for the pain to return, because their nervous system has been trained to expect it
- Difficulty believing the improvement is real and lasting
- Tearfulness when they realise a bowel movement did not hurt
- Frustration if recovery pain lingers longer than expected, because they expected surgery to fix everything instantly
Pain after LIS is real. But it has an end point. The fissure pain, for most people, did not.
When to contact your doctor
- Heavy bleeding that is not slowing
- Pain that is getting worse after the first few days, rather than gradually improving
- Fever or signs of infection
- Pain that is severe and not responding to the prescribed relief
- Difficulty passing urine
- Any bleeding with feeling faint or dizzy
- New loss of bowel control beyond what your surgeon described
- Any symptom that does not feel right
If something about your recovery does not feel right, or you just want reassurance about what is normal, do not hesitate to contact your surgical team. They expect questions and would rather hear from you than have you worry in silence.