The Health Blog

Pruritus ani is the term we use to describe the condition of an itch or discomfort around the anus.

This is a common problem, which is often made worse by the treatment the sufferer uses himself or what is prescribed for him.

The cause is due to a combination of factors. Nervous tension is not only a cause but also a result.

A wet, unclean skin in this area may be the main factor.

Excessive sweating, frequent loose bowel actions, leakage of mucus and, particularly, inadequate cleaning all predispose to the problem.

It is difficult to clean the area by the use of conventional dry toilet paper.

Cleaning around the anus is more effective with a soft wet cloth. The European habit of the use of a bidet to wash the area is also effective.

Rubbing with dry toilet paper may irritate the skin and eventually make it itch, which we can make worse by scratching.

Most of the local preparations may further sensitise and irritate the area, so the problem continues.

Many cases can be cured simply by stopping the patient using the cream or ointment he has been using for months or years.

Topical applications of cortisone to relieve the inflammation, or anti-fungal drugs to clear thrush infection should only be used for a limited time.

The clean healthy skin of a baby’s bottom soon becomes red and angry if left in contact with a dirty nappy. So too may the adult bottom, which is no longer smooth but wrinkled around the anus and thus provides pockets where small amounts of faeces may remain to irritate the skin.

More good can be done to cure this unpleasant and common problem if we paid better attention to simple cleaning measures than using elaborate and potent drugs.

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Cortisone is a hormone normally produced in the body by the adrenal glands which lie above the kidneys.

It is essential for life and has many functions, one of which is to suppress inflammation.

Inflammation is the normal process where the body defends itself against either injury or infection, but sometimes this inflammation gets out of control, or is provoked in the body by antibodies produced, as it were, by the body developing an allergy to its own tissues.

Cortisone can suppress this inflammation and control, if not cure, the disease.

Cortisone derivatives are widely used as creams and ointments in treating skin diseases.

Most skin diseases provoke inflammation in the skin and cortisone applied topically reduces this and often clears the rash.

Because cortisone can suppress the inflammation needed to control infection it may be used when there is infection on the skin, or for that matter when taken by mouth it may suppress the body’s ability to deal with the infection.

Prolonged local use may damage the skin, leading it to lose its elastic tissue and become thin as in old age and with prominent blood vessels.

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