Hemorrhoids or piles are basically swollen veins in the anus or rectum that can bleed or get infected. If you are suffering from Hemorrhoids it might be important to know how severe your Hemorrhoid is, and what GRADE it is.
The medical professionals at Surgery Group of LA have crafted this sheet in order to help assess your potential Hemorrhoid before walking into your doctor’s appointment.
Grade 1
Essentially what makes a Hemorrhoid Grade 1 is when the swollen vein has not protruded out of the anus. For most Grade 1 Hemorrhoids your doctor will recommend diet and lifestyle changes such as increasing your fiber intake and improving mobility around the hips and anus. Grade 1 Hemorrhoids can be treated with over-the-counter medication. Some effective medications include Preparation H, Protoform, or Tucks, which are all hydrocortisone creams that relieve stress, irritation, and inflammation in the affected areas.
Grade 2
Hemorrhoids protrude through the anus during defecation but return inside the anus after the stool movement has been completed. For Grade 2 hemorrhoids, doctors will still often prescribe creams and lifestyle changes to start. If these prove ineffective, your doctor will move towards painless treatment plans that are performed at the doctor’s office.
Painless hemorrhoid treatment plans include rubber band litigation, infrared coagulation, or injection sclerotherapy. While these treatments can be quite effective at lessening symptoms, they do not cure the hemorrhoids themselves. They last anywhere from 6 months to a year and need to be repeated. However, they do not require anesthesia and you can return to work as soon as the treatment is finished.
Grade 3
Hemorrhoids protrude through the anus or rectum during stool movements or any straining of the anus and need to return to their proper position by hand. Because of the chance of it developing into a Grade 4 hemorrhoid, or becoming infected or damaged further, this stage is usually when your doctor will recommend surgery.
Grade 4
What makes a hemorrhoid grade 4 is when the hemorrhoid has prolapsed to such a degree that will not go back inside the anus even with manual intervention. At this point, surgery is the only option in order to possibly treat this level of hemorrhoid.
The most common surgical hemorrhoid treatments are surgical hemorrhoid excision or hemorrhoidectomy, where the hemorrhoid is surgically removed or surgical hemorrhoid stapling procedure or stapled hemorroidopexy where the hemorrhoid is cut down into a more manageable size and stapled back into the proper resting place.
Conclusion
While hemorrhoidectomies have the best curative results, they can be extremely painful and can put the patient out for 2 weeks. Hemorrhoid stapling procedures were developed to be less invasive and easier to recover from. While hemorrhoid stapling procedures are far less painful, they also come with higher chances of infection and of your hemorrhoids reoccurring. There have also been cases where the staples associated with the procedure can damage the small bowels or the vagina if placed poorly.
The truth is at any grade, hemorrhoids can be a common but disruptive part of life. To find out how you or a loved one can develop a treatment plan for hemorrhoids, speak to a medical professional today.
