There is a plethora of home remedies for hemorrhoids, many of them quite effective, exist to cure or mitigate hemorrhoids: squatting toilets, increased consumption of dietary fiber, drinking lots of water, etc.
Understanding The Different Methods Of Hemorrhoids Treatment
For external or mild hemorrhoids, home remedies are enough.
However, when the hemorrhoid is severe, what are your options?
If the hemorrhoid is very serious, your physician may recommend a variety of drastic medical treatments: hemorroidolysis, hemorrhoidectomy, infrared coagulation, cryosurgery, and sclerotherapy.
These established medical procedures are quite safe, when performed by a licensed physician or surgeon.
Hemorroidolysis
Also known as galvanic electrotherapy, hemorroidolysis involves applying a small amount of electricity to the hemorrhoid. The current disintegrates much of the material of the hemorrhoid, causing it to shrink.
A small probe, linked to an appropriate electrical source, is rubbed over the hemorrhoid for five to ten minutes. The hemorrhoid should then disappear for good.
Although the treatment of one hemorrhoid only lasts five to ten minutes, many patients suffer from multiple hemorrhoids. Thus, the session may last longer. Depending on the closeness of the hemorrhoids, the patient may be required to return for another section.
Hemorrhoidectomy
The physician uses a scalpel to cut away the hemorrhoid. Stitches or special solutions are applied to the wound, to stop bleeding. Antibiotic ointment or pills may be subsequently prescribed, to avoid infection.
Hemorrhoidectomy is strongly linked to incontinence later in life. Furthermore, the pain experienced during recovery is quite severe. For this reason, hemorroidectomies are only performed in cases of grade IV hemorrhoids, when the hemorrhoid is protruding from the anus.
A variation on the standard hemorrhoidectomy is the stapled hemorroidectomy. Staples are applied to surround tissue, to cut blood flow to the hemorrhoid. This process results in a speedier, less painful recovery. However, it is usually performed only for protruding or bleeding hemorrhoids.
Infrared Coagulation For Hemorrhoids
Infrared light—more commonly known as heat—is applied to the hemorrhoid. This heat causes the blood and proteins of the hemorrhoid to coagulate, or solidify. The hemorrhoid is now nothing more than a lump of solid protein. Infrared coagulation is effective for hemorrhoids of grade I to IV. It is the most commonly offered alternative to surgery.
Cryosurgery
In cryosurgery, hemorrhoids are frozen off. An extremely cold probe or liquid is applied to the hemorrhoid. The sudden cold causes liquids inside the hemorrhoid to freeze. The frozen hemorrhoid subsequently falls off. Cryosurgery is rarely used nowadays, due to the many complications it arouses.
Sclerotherapy
In sclerotherapy, the physician injects a medicine into the hemorrhoid that causes the hemorrhoid to shrink, and eventually to be absorbed into the body.
Sodium tetradecyl sulfate and polidocanol are the two most common active ingredients. They cause blood vessels to shrink. And since a hemorrhoid is really a swollen blood vessel, using sodium tetradecyl sulfate or polidocanol to treat hemorrhoids is only logical.
Sclerotherapy may be performed in conjunction with ultrasound monitoring. Ultrasound is used to map out the abnormal veins of the rectum; the medication is then injected into the proper veins. As the medication acts on the hemorrhoids, ultrasound viewing allows for real-time monitoring.