The anal canal has a lining of tissues and veins. When the veins near the anus gets swollen and inflamed they are called hemorrhoids. A common term for them is piles.

Hemorrhoids are common occurrences most frequent to adults between the ages of 45 – 60 years. It is also common during pregnancy.

Hemorrhoids develop when excess pressure is put in the anal canal resulting in the lining getting strained thus inflaming the veins. Common causes for this pressure happening includes excess body weight, pregnancy, chronic constipation and diarrhea.

Types of Hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoids are generally categorized into internal and external types depending on their location of whether they are inside the anus or outside it.

Internal Hemorrhoid

Internal hemorrhoids develop inside the rectum. This area does not have nerve cells and therefore this type of hemorrhoid is normally painless.

One can have an internal hemorrhoid and not even be aware of it. When excessive pressure is applied to them they can bleed and make the person aware of their presence.

Internal hemorrhoids develop due to a number of causes including constipation, obesity and high-fat / low fiber diet.

There are four surgical classifications of internal hemorrhoids:

Grade I – First degree hemorrhoids – These bleed when strained during bowel movement, but they do not come outside the anus.

Grade II – Second degree hemorrhoids – When passing stool, these hemorrhoids protrude (prolapse) outside the anus but they subsequently return back inside after the bowel movement.

Grade III – Third degree hemorrhoids – When passing stool, these hemorrhoids protrude (prolapse) outside the anus and have to be manually inserted inside the anus.

Grade IV – Fourth degree hemorrhoids – This occurs when the anal sphincter muscle spasms and traps a protruded (prolapsed) hemorrhoid cutting off the blood supply. These are also called strangulated hemorrhoids. These hemorrhoids need medical treatment.

External Hemorrhoid

External hemorrhoids develop outside and around the anus. These blue-black lumps are situated under the skin and are painful due to the presence of nerve cells. Sometimes the blood clots develop and they become thrombosed external hemorrhoids.

Symptoms of bleeding and anal itching and irritation are caused by straining, rubbing or cleaning around the anus. Anal sexual intercourse, excess body weight, pregnancy and age are also causes for the formation of external hemorrhoids.

Treatment for external hemorrhoids are mainly focused on relieving the symptoms and pressure on the anal canal. Treatment can be simply soaking in a tub of warm water, ice-packs to reduce swelling, over-the-counter (OTC) medication and ointments for pain and itchiness relief and taking stool softners. Should these not give relief then surgery is the last option as these can be painful as they might involve surgical removal of the hemorrhoid or burning it off the anus area.

Conclusion

Internal hemorrhoids are most common and even then hemorrhoids are not life-threatening or very discomfortable. However if one is extremely unlucky then both internal and external hemorrhoids can exist at the same time making