Can Hemorrhoids Go Away on Their Own?

While hemorrhoids might not exactly be a topic of conversation with friends and family, don’t let that fool you into thinking you’re on your own if you’ve developed this condition. The reality is that more than half of people over the age of 50 develop hemorrhoids.

If you’ve joined this group, you want to know what to expect moving forward. The team here at Fairfax Colon & Rectal Surgery has some good news for you — most hemorrhoids go away on their own, but not all. There are times when hemorrhoids require our care, and we get into that below.

Hemorrhoid basics

Let’s start with some basic information about hemorrhoids, which are blood vessels around your anus and rectum that have been engorged with blood (think of like a varicose vein in your leg). Hemorrhoids can develop around the exterior of your anus, or internally in your rectum. 

While anyone can get hemorrhoids, they tend to affect pregnant women — 38% of women develop them in their first pregnancy — as well as people who are carrying excess pounds. In addition, people who have chronic diarrhea or constipation are more vulnerable to hemorrhoids.

While we learned that half of people over the age of 50 have hemorrhoids, only about 1 in 20 people develop symptoms, which typically include:

• Anal itching
• Lumps around your anus
• Bright red blood in your stool
• Anal pain

In most cases, these symptoms are short-lived and only last a few days, especially if you take steps, such as:

• Applying a topical anesthetic if there’s pain or itching
• Drinking more water
• Eating more fiber
• Soaking your anus in a warm sitz bath
• Softening your stool with laxatives

However, there are times when these measures do not fully relieve your symptoms, which is a good indication that you should see us.

When hemorrhoids become problematic

As we mentioned, if your hemorrhoid symptoms don’t go away, especially after a week of care, or if your symptoms get worse, we want you to come see us. People with problematic hemorrhoids can experience extreme pain or itching and these symptoms can flare when they’re sitting, which places more pressure on the enlarged blood vessel. 

Another problem is that people with hemorrhoids can run into issues with passing stool if the engorged vein is in the way.

In some cases, internal hemorrhoids can prolapse, which means the swollen blood vessel exits your anus. This prolapsed vein often goes back in on its own, but sometimes, you need to help push it back inside your rectum.

In each of these cases, these hemorrhoids likely require a higher standard of care. Here at our practice, we offer several hemorrhoid treatments, such as:

• Rubber band ligation in which we tie off the blood vessel to prevent blood flow to the vein
• Infrared coagulation, in which we use light energy to close the vein
• Hemorrhoidectomy, in which we surgically remove the vein

So, if you suspect that your hemorrhoids aren’t going away on their own and you’d like to get some help, we encourage you to contact one of our offices in Fairfax, Fair Oaks, Alexandria, Gainesville, Woodbridge, or Lansdowne, Virginia, to schedule an appointment.