Understanding A Few Non-Surgical Approaches To Hemorrhoid Treatment

Health & Medical Blog

If you have hemorrhoids and find that at-home treatments are ineffective, then it may be time to start branching out to some other options. And, while surgery may be something that you need in the future to completely remove the hemorrhoids, your doctor can offer you some less invasive treatment options first. Keep reading to learn about a few of them. 

Ligation With Rubber Bands

Hemorrhoids are large outpouchings that develop due to the inflammation and swelling of blood vessels. The vessels are located within and around the anus, and when the vessels get too stretched out, they will not shrink on their own. This is one reason why a larger hemorrhoid is extremely difficult to treat at home.

When this type of hemorrhoid is noted, your physician will try to reduce or completely remove the blood flow from the region to force the hemorrhoid to shrink and die off. One of the more common approaches to this involves placing a rubber band along the top base of the outpouching. This immediately cuts off blood, and it will take about one week for the hemorrhoid to die and fall off. Scar tissue is left behind in the area where the hemorrhoid was located. This helps to prevent a new outpouching in the same region. 

The banding procedure may be a bit uncomfortable, and you will feel some pressure and pain in the area where the band is located. If the discomfort is too bothersome, your doctor can add an anesthetic to the region to numb it. And, since the treatment may be a bit uncomfortable, often only one hemorrhoid is treated at a time.

Injection Therapy

If you have many hemorrhoids that require treatment, then your doctor may use an injection technique to shrink a number of them at once. This can provide a much quicker treatment so you can feel relief in a short period of time. The treatment involves the injection of a chemical agent around the perimeter of the hemorrhoid. This creates scar tissue in the area that places pressure on the hemorrhoid that causes it to shrink. Typically, your doctor will use either a phenol or dextrose solution for this purpose. 

Some hemorrhoids are resistant to the initial treatment and may require multiple injections. So, speak with your doctor about this if you are still experiencing symptoms a few weeks after the initial treatment is completed. 

Also, while the injections may be effective long-term, hemorrhoids can return at a later time. If this happens, then your doctor may suggest banding treatments instead.

To learn more about hemorrhoid non-surgical treatments, contact a doctor.

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18 August 2020

Take Your Health Into Your Own Hands

My name is Katie Langer. For a long time, I was bed ridden and I felt like I had no control over my life. I simply went along with what was instructed by my doctor and I didn't ask questions. It wasn't that my doctor wasn't willing to work with me, but I preferred to simply not think about the illness I was suffering from. I didn't realize that some of the symptoms I was suffering from were side effects of my medication and were not normal. After communicating more with my doctor, I was able to alleviate my symptoms. Since then, I've taken an interest in patient-doctor relationships and how to improve them.