Stage Three Piles Treatment

Piles, more commonly known as hemorrhoids, is a condition characterized by an inflammation of the veins located in your anus or rectum---and like many other physical conditions, it is classified in stages. With piles, staging is based on the severity of the swelling and associated symptoms. If you have stage three piles, you're usually dealing with a large hemorrhoid protruding from the anus. It often causes bleeding, pain, itching and additional inflammation in nearby veins (resulting in the development of another pile). When the condition advances to this stage, treatment typically relies on medical intervention.

Ligation

• Hemorrhoid creams and suppositories rarely have any effect on large protrusions, so a ligation procedure may be necessary to remedy the condition. A rubber band is fixed to the base of the hemorrhoid to essentially deprive it of blood. After about a week's time, the pile should shrivel and fall off. If there are multiple hemorrhoids, your doctor will typically treat them one at a time, even though the pain and discomfort associated with ligation is relatively minimal (if present at all).

  As you wear the band, consider taking a fiber supplement or stool softener. You don't want to further irritate or strain the veins in your anus or rectum with firm bowel movements. Keeping your stool soft minimizes additional problems and reduces pain that may occur as you pass waste.

Injection Therapy

• You may also benefit from injection therapy with stage three hemorrhoids. Often referred to as sclerotherapy, a hardening agent is injected directly into the pile, causing the inflamed vein to collapse and then shrink in size. While this may not be as effective as ligation, the real advantage of sclerotherapy is that multiple veins can be treated at the same time. If you're suffering from a number of hemorrhoids, as is often the case at stage three, this form of treatment brings relief much faster, though there is a chance of recurrence.

Cauterization

• With cauterization, a laser is used to produce blood coagulation within the swollen vein. As clotting takes places, the vein hardens and shrinks in size. Much like with injection therapy, multiple hemorrhoids can be treated at once, thereby providing relief much sooner than ligation. However, this method also shares the chance of recurrence with injection therapy. If your hemorrhoids are an ongoing problem, this probably isn't the treatment for you.

Surgery

• Since stage three piles is an "advanced" stage of hemorrhoids, a surgical procedure is more apt to provide the best results. This method can lead to complications, however, so it's rarely used in earlier stages of this condition. With surgery, the affected vein (or veins) is extracted or removed through a procedure known as a hemorrhoidectomy. If you're not an ideal candidate for this procedure, your doctor will then turn to stapling, which works in a similar way to ligation. Stapling deprives the hemorrhoid of blood, causing it to shrivel and disappear.