What are the symptoms of having anal fistula?
The primary symptom of anal fistula is the discharge of pus. The amount of pus is related to the length and number of fistulas. Newly formed fistulas have significant inflammatory reactions, resulting in abundant, thick, yellow, and odorous pus. In the absence of inflammation, there is often no pain, but only a feeling of local distension and discomfort, which intensifies when walking. Due to the constant irritation of pus on the perianal skin, there is often an itching sensation, wetness and discomfort in the perianal area, skin discoloration, epidermal shedding, and hyperplasia and thickening of fibrous tissue, sometimes leading to the formation of eczema. Long-unhealed complex anal fistulas can form large fibrotic incompleteness or annular cords around the anorectum, affecting the dilation and closure of the anus, causing difficulty in defecation and a sensation of incomplete emptying.
