Many patients ask: my anus is always wet, is this normal? Could I be sick? There are many hair follicles, sweat glands, and sebaceous glands on the skin around the anus, and there are anal glands distributed inside the anal canal. Therefore, under normal physiological conditions, a certain amount of secretion will appear, which serves to moisturize, protect, and regulate the anus and the lower segment of the rectum. Anal moisture is a normal physiological phenomenon, but some abnormal anal moisture phenomena, such as when anal moisture is relatively severe, or when anal moisture is accompanied by itching and overflow of anal secretions, may be associated with certain anorectal diseases, which require our attention and timely treatment.
In general, there will be a small amount of secretion around the anus, but when anal moisture is relatively severe, the following four types of diseases may occur:
1. Rectal prolapse, late-stage internal hemorrhoids, and acute incarcerated hemorrhoids can bring out rectal secretions from the anus when the rectal mucosa and hemorrhoid mucosa are everted out of the anus, which can also cause anal moisture.
2. Senile anal sphincter relaxation and anal sphincter incontinence caused by surgery and other reasons can all cause poor closure of the anus, leading to overflow of rectal secretions.
3. Anal moisture, accompanied by itching, exudation as the main symptom, and various kinds of skin damage, such as papules, erythema, erosion, crusting, desquamation, lichenification, etc., are signs of perianal eczema or dermatitis. Sometimes, increased secretion around the anus is due to pus contamination caused by rupture of a perianal abscess, which stimulates the skin reaction. In terms of treatment, it is necessary to treat the anal fistula first for the dermatitis to heal.
4. In late-stage rectal cancer patients, foul-smelling purulent bloody secretions may flow out of the anus, which may also cause anal incontinence and perianal fistulas due to cancer, thus causing anal moisture. However, this kind of moisture usually comes with a feeling of heaviness, obvious pain, and perianal masses.
Anal moisture-induced anal itching is one of the common causes of external genital itching. Its causes are numerous, such as unclean anus and pinworm infestation. If the cause can be clearly identified and targeted treatment is given, it is not difficult to cure. However, there is another type of anal itching with unknown causes, which often becomes stubbornly incurable due to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. The most common one is anal eczema.
Anal eczema is not difficult to treat, but because patients often use hot water or medicinal water for scalding, and doctors often combine ointments containing "song" class hormones for external application, although temporary improvement can be achieved, ultimately it makes the eczema more severe and the itching more intense, becoming a chronic condition. Therefore, to cure anal eczema, the most important thing is to stop all physical and chemical stimuli, avoid scratching, do not use medicinal water for scalding, and do not apply drugs containing "song" class hormones. In the first few days, the itching may become more severe, but as long as the cold wet compress therapy is persisted, it can heal without medication. The specific method is: take a towel soaked in clean water, fold it into 8 layers, pinch lightly without water dripping, and tightly cover the anus. Wash every 3 minutes to prevent the towel from heating up. Cold compress whenever the anus itches until it heals. After defecation, only cold water should be used to rinse the anus, and hot water, soap, or medicine should not be used for cleaning.