Your doctor will examine your rectum and anus with a gloved finger. Your doctor may want to examine your rectum using a proctoscope or anoscope, which are hollow, lighted viewing instruments. The following approach will usually help to relieve most cases of hemorrhoids. Your doctor may recommend the use of a stool softener. It is important to drink plenty of fluids, especially water.
Fluid helps to assure looser stools that are easier to pass.
If your hemorrhoids cause only mild discomfort, your doctor may suggest you apply a cream containing a numbing agent such as witch hazel, zinc oxide, or petroleum jelly to the painful area. Your doctor may also prescribe steroid suppositories and other creams. If you have a painful external hemmorhoid with a blood clot, a doctor can remove the clot resulting in pain relief. If you have protruding internal hemorrhoids, a doctor can perform a procedure called hemorrhoid banding. Your doctor will put a tight band around the enlarged vein, cut the hemorrhoid open, remove the blood clot, and let the vein heal.