ABSTRACT
The first description of the treatment of anal fissure was by Boyer (1825) in his Traité des Maladies Chirurgicales, and included the use of dorsal sphincterotomy without distinguishing the internal sphincter. Récamier described the use of anal dilatation in 1829. Since then, various methods have drifted in and out of vogue, including longitudinal incision of the base of the fissure (Lane, 1865), application of a sclerosant, anal dilatation and radical excision of the fissure (Gabriel, 1930), and dorsal sphincterotomy (Morgan and Thompson, 1956). Dorsal internal sphincterotomy was occasionally observed to cause fecal leakage, and the lateral internal sphincterotomy was developed by Parks (1967).
