Main Body of Hemorrhoids
  • There are blood vessels like mesh nets around the anus and the lower edge of the rectum. The main body of hemorrhoids is the wens which swelled up into a wen condition (varices). Symptoms like bleeding from varices and swelling of thrombosis inside the vein appear.
Internal and external hemorrhoids
  • Internal hemorrhoids develops under the mucous membrane at the lower edge of the rectum, and external hemorrhoids develops under anal epithelium of the anus (outside the dentate line). Internal hemorrhoids bleeds but does not hurt; external hemorrhoids does not bleed but hurts badly when swollen.
Causes of hemorrhoids
  1. When human beings started to walk upright, the position of the anus became lower than the heart, and the pressure of hemorrhoidal vain became higher. The fact that animals on four feet do not suffer from hemorrhoids proves this point. Thus, standing or sitting in the same position for a long period of time is thought to be a cause of hemorrhoids. Straining too hard to defecate worsens hemorrhoids, too.
  2. Constitution: The hemorrhoidal vein of people whose tissues around hemorrhoidal vein are weak expands easier when applied pressure and have a higher possibilty of developing into a varix which is the main body of hemorrhoid. Therefore it is thought that the constitution to develop hemorrhoids easily is hereditary.
  3. Aging: The tissues which support the anus weakens with age, and hemorrhoids tend to slip out of the anus more easily.
  4. Etc.: Consuming too much alcohol or irritating food like mustard or pepper worsens the bleeding and the swelling. Pregnancy and childbirth also worsen it for women.

Degrees of hemorrhoids
1st Bleeding is the main symptom, and there is no anal prolapse.
2nd Prolapses when defecating, but comes back inside the anus when finishing defecating naturally.
3rd After the prolapse, it does not return inside without pushing it with your fingers, etc.
4th It is always outside the anus, even without any defecation.

Symptoms of hemorrhoids
  • External hemorrhoids: hemorrhoids outside the dentate line. The most frequently seen is thrombus formation, whose main body is the thrombosis (clot) which developed in the veins of the external hemorrhoids. A lump accompanied by severe pain forms suddenly outside the anus, but it rarely bleeds. When the skin covering the part which became a thrombosis breaks, though, the blackish red thrombosis solutes and produces a little amount of blood. The thrombosis will deflate and the pain will cease quickly. Consevative therapy( ointment, painreliever, bath) also absorbs thrombosis gradually and makes it better. If the thrombosis is large and you want to get rid of it at once, you can do it by having an incision under local anesthesia and removing it.
  • Internal hemorrhoids: Hemorrhoids inside the dentate line. There is bleeding but no pain. Prolapse of the anus occurs when the supporting tissues around internal hemorrhoids weaken and slip outside of the anus.

Treating hemorrhoids
  • Bleeding and pain: Consevative therapy is chiefly done. Keep the anus warm and clean. Try to control your bowel movements; avoid constipation or diarrhea. When the movements cannot be regulated by keeping a good diet, use antiflatuent or laxatives. Also add suppository and ointment to the treatment, and painreliever and antiinflammatory depending on your condition.
  • Prolapse of the anus: A surgery will be needed to treat this. But because hemorrhoids is a benign illness, the adaptability of a surgery is decided upon the will of the patient to want to treat it or not. It is not fit to do surgery on a patient who does not mind the prolapse much.