When Hemorrhoids Require Medical Intervention

How do you know when your hemorrhoids require medical intervention? The answer lies with your symptoms. 

Elite board-certified general surgeon Dr. Elvira Klause is a renowned hemorrhoid specialist. She has extensive experience treating this frustrating problem with the most advanced nonsurgical and minimally invasive approaches. 

Because many people just aren’t sure about when to reach out for help with hemorrhoids, we dedicated our July blog to this topic. Here are the symptoms that mean you need medical intervention. 

Chronic discomfort  

External hemorrhoids (those that occur outside the anus) can feel like a bump under the skin. With external hemorrhoids, it’s common to feel itchy, sore, and sometimes downright painful. Some people describe a burning sensation around their anus.

Although symptoms are especially acute during bowel movements, external hemorrhoids can also cause serious discomfort when sitting down or at other times. 

A sudden prominent bump, accompanied by particularly severe pain, itchiness, and swelling, could be a sign of a blood clot in the external hemorrhoid (thrombosis). 

With thrombosis, the blood supply is cut off, and the symptoms can sharply worsen. The hemorrhoid may look bluish in color. It’s common for a thrombosed hemorrhoid to become increasingly painful over the first couple of days.  

If you’re having any of these symptoms, you need treatment to stop these symptoms and avoid complications.

Bowel movement bleeding

Internal hemorrhoids (those inside the anus) often cause bleeding. In fact, that’s usually the only symptom of internal hemorrhoids. 

The blood is typically bright red while bleeding due to other problems is usually much darker. Bowel movement bleeding can appear in your stool, toilet paper, or toilet bowl water.

You could even develop iron-deficiency anemia without treatment due to excessive blood loss. If internal hemorrhoids that bleed frequently aren’t treated promptly, you could experience prolapse. During prolapse, the hemorrhoid pushes outside the anus. With early-grade prolapse, the hemorrhoid retracts after a bowel movement. 

However, prolapse can worsen. In later-grade prolapse, you might have to push the hemorrhoid back in, or it might get stuck outside your anus. A prolapsed hemorrhoid can be very itchy, sore, and painful, so it requires treatment immediately. 

How long to wait to seek treatment for hemorrhoids

Some smaller hemorrhoids may resolve on their own. But, if your symptoms persist for at least a week or have sudden symptoms worsening, you need to reach out for expert medical care. 

Dr. Klause is a talented and highly knowledgeable specialist who draws upon a wide range of solutions to treat hemorrhoids. We offer office-based procedures like rubber band ligation and sclerotherapy. 

In addition, Dr. Klause performs minimally invasive surgical procedures, such as transanal hemorrhoidal dearterialization (THD), to cut off hemorrhoid blood flow, leading to hemorrhoid shrinkage. This option is less invasive and painful than traditional hemorrhoid removal surgery (hemorrhoidectomy), with a shorter recovery time. 

Should more conservative treatments fail, Dr. Klause may recommend a hemorrhoidectomy. As with all surgeries she performs, Dr. Klause uses the most advanced approaches possible to give you a smooth recovery and long-term hemorrhoid relief. 

If you need help with hemorrhoids, our compassionate specialists are here to make the process smooth and easy. Call our Laguna Hills, California, office or connect with us online to find out how we can help with your hemorrhoids.