Saturday, July 29, 2017

Uffs and butts- A tale of asstronauts!

As surgeons, we often encounter patients with anorectal problems. They can be a source of great discomfort and cause loss of work and expenditure to patients. Some common problems faced by patients include hemorrhoids or piles, fissures, fistulas and pilonidal sinuses.



Although hemorrhoids don't deserve a treat, they sometimes require treatment. Hemorrhoids are often referred to as piles. This word is derived from the Latin word 'pila' which means ball which might have referred to the globular form of external hemorrhoids.
Fissures are tears in the anal canal and cause a lot of pain. The word fissure is derived from the Latin word 'fissura' which means 'to split'.
Fistulas in the anal canal cause a lot of embarrassment to the patients because of the pus discharge and are difficult to treat if they are complex. The word fistula is derived from Latin which means 'pipe'.
Pilonidal sinus is a discharge from the gluteal cleft and the term was first used in 1880 and meant pilus (hair) + nidus (nest).