ABSTRACT
Anal pain represents a symptom that clinicians often find difficult to understand and feel illequipped to manage. This applies especially in the situation when the symptom is functional, occurring in the absence of the common identifiable organic causes of anal fistula, perianal sepsis or thrombosed hemorrhoids. In such situations, when the common causes have been excluded, patients often find themselves being referred from one specialist to another, becoming progressively more disillusioned as a variety of unhelpful treatments are tried.
