Can perianal abscesses re-form after surgery?

Hi,

I had my third fistula surgery five months ago and since then I've felt much better without any abscess formation, drainage or pain. My surgeon said a likelihood of fistula recurrence was 10%.

Over the last two months, however, I've had intermittent lower left abdominal pain, gas, bloating very soft stool and some diarrhea. When this happens, the stool irritates the skin in the perianal/ surgical area. I still wear a gauze pad to help with mild fecal incontinence. As a result, I have a small painful nodule, just like the abscesses I used to get prior to surgery. I'm thinking I should resume my sitz baths which I stopped doing as my surgeon said I wouldn't need to do them.

Has anybody had a similar experience of abscesses recurring after fistula surgery? What does it mean? Does it seem like the fistula is back? I'm going to make an appointment to see my surgeon again about it.

Thank you so much for this information, scifigal2k!

They might, but it hasn't been my personal experience that they do. The only thing I can think of that would make a scar cause pain is if an adhesion occurred with the healing. Our bodies don't really differentiate the different layers of tissue when wounds heal, so the layers can heal to each other instead of just with themselves. For example, my c-section scar has made it so my uterus is a bit stuck to the outer layer of skin. With this current pregnancy, with things growing and moving, it pulls funny sometimes and can really hurt. Not sure if that makes sense or not.