Symptomatic Efficacy of Aloe Vera 2% Cream in the Treatment of Chronic Anal Fissure

Abstract

Aim:Chronic anal fissure (CAF) is a common disease for which various alternative treatment options exist. One of these alternatives is topical treatment with Aloe vera 2% cream (AVC), reports of which have increased in the literature over the past decade. This study aimed to analyse the efficacy of AVC in the symptomatic treatment of patients with CAF.Method:Once informed of the treatment method, patients diagnosed with CAF who consented to receive AVC treatment and participate in the study were included in the study. We evaluated four parameters, including duration of stay in the toilet for each defecation, number of defecations per week, haemorrhage during defecation and pain during defecation according to the visual analogue scale, to measure the effectiveness of the treatment in patients with CAF. We posed the same questions to patients before and four weeks after treatment to explore the efficacy of AVC in the treatment of CAF. In all tests, a level of p<0.05 was considered significant.Results:Of the patients, 79.5% (66) were female and 20.5% (17) were male. The mean age was 32.6±9 years. The median, minimum and maximum number of positively changing parameters were 1, 4 and 4, respectively. Of the 83 patients, 81.9% (68) said that the treatment was successful and 18.1% (15) stated that it was not. In all four parameters, the changes were significant (p<0.001).Conclusion:We recommend AVC as a complementary or alternative treatment for CAF.

Keywords

• anal fissure
• symptomatic treatment
• aloe vera cream
• defecation pain
• haemorrhage