Q: I have a non healing abscess between the area of anal opening and the testicle region, this wound is about 2 inches above the anal opening, it heals sometimes by itself, but after some time it erupts, the pain is excruciating before eruption but after the eruption the pain decreases, the healing was earlier (almost 10 years now) quickly but now its become bad. There is constant discharge of yellow liquid (pus). As of now there is a hardnes with a lump in that region.

A:Abscesses usually burst and heal spontaneously, or cause so much pain that surgery is needed. A non healing abscess near the anal orifice is likely to be the external opening of a fistula. An anal fistula is an abnormal communication between the anal canal and the skin. The fistula track starts about 4 cm inside the anal orifice, and comes out in the skin near the anus.There are two types of treatment. One is surgery, which is effective but has a recurrence rate of about 15%. The other is a thread therapy being carried out at Moolchand Hospital: there is no surgery, and the recurrence rates are probably lower.