Anal skin tag removal on the NHS: local or general anaesthetic?

[ByJess]

Wondered if I could get any advice please

I went to the doctors around Christmas time, which was initially told I had an anal polyp. I had a 2 week wait through the NHS to be assessed, and was very concerning due to the size.

Luckily, I was assessed to be told it was an anal skin tag. I had a pre-op in January, advised the op will be in around 3 months time. 4 months later I was still waiting, and advised to contact if no op appointment is made within 6 months of the pre-op.

I was then contacted in July, to be told I now need another pre-op and it will be fast tracked. Initially, from being seen back in January, I was advised to go under local anaesthetic. I took the advice of the doctor with this being a quicker turnaround. Since looking at other people’s experiences, I’m yet to find somebody who had local and everyone seems to have general anaesthetic, which I can completely understand why.

I do feel a little fobbed off with the length of time this has taken, and now I’m questioning whether to have local and ask to speak to somebody about having general anaesthetic. If anyone has anyone has had any similar experiences and advice on recovery this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

I had a general. Recovery was very easy and no pain. I may have been lucky

Thank you. I will try and go back to them and ask for general

both under local / with GA or spinal are common. Probs best to ask the surgeon which they’d suggest based on how big it is/is it just a skin tag or a skin tag and any other procedures/ anything else about your medical history that might swing things either way . Either way they’re often pretty painful post op.

Thank you. They advised local based on the wait time, but as I’ve been waiting over 7 months and now had 2 pre-ops, I may ask for general due to the nature of the op