I just stumbled upon the rectal prolapse post and it made an impression on me. I'm concerned. I wonder, how common is anal trauma and injury? By this I mean prolapse, bleeding, fissures, or other.

I'm not asking so that we can make light of the issue or frighten people. Nor do I intend to belittle what people have gone through. But I think there is a dark side to anal sex that some would rather ignore. I'd like to bring people's stories to light and hopefully gain some perspective from them. less

You want a story, you've got it!

I am trying to close the doors on what has been a 2-year saga involving an anal mishap. Prior to the incident, I really enjoyed anal sex. REALLY enjoyed it. Had it all the time. Never thought twice about potential injury or anything.

A couple of years ago, I was having vaginal intercourse with someone who had a very, very wide penis. Vaginal intercourse was painful, let me put it that way. It was huge. Anyway, we only had sex a few times, but one time he pulled out, missed, and accidentally drove that ginormous penis straight into my asshole. I cried from the pain and couldn't sit for three days.

I didn't know anything about fissures and whatnot though, and figured that when the acute pain stopped, it was basically healed. But from then on, any anal sex I tried was very painful, and I often saw blood during my bowel movements. Finally, during a regular gyno exam, I casually asked her to take a look at it. She said, "Oh my god! It's ulcerated!" and referred me to a specialist. He explained anal fissures to me and gave me a gel that was supposed to relax the sphincter and allow the cut to heal. The gel didn't work, so...earlier this year, I had to have surgery.

They put you under for the surgery, and I had a few weeks' recovery time, but overall it was a pretty quick procedure. I am physically healed, but psychologically somewhat traumatized by the whole experience. I couldn't believe that one mishap caused so many months of misery and expensive medical remedies. I've tried to have anal a few times since then, but freaked out at the slightest bit of pain. I'm hopefully going to try again in the very near future. I really want to put this whole thing behind me and get back to loving anal again!

I do believe that anal, with proper warmup, is very safe and that situations like mine are rare, but freak accidents do happen. less

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear about this. I too have had to deal with a fissure on two occasions. Thankfully, they healed, but I continue to be wary about re-injuring myself.

So far, everyone in on this discussion has stressed the importance of adequate lubrication. I echo this advice, but also think that, at times, our eyes are bigger than our asses. People see crazy things in porn and read about them on this site and don't realize that there are grave risks to things like anal fisting and massive insertions. I can't stress enough that, in a addition to proper lubrication, don't be a hero! Exercise good judgment and be good to your bodies. You only have one. less