This highly informative monograph offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary reference guide for the management and treatment of the whole spectrum of painful tears in the anus and anal canal. Based upon a systematic review of all relevant papers on the topic since 1865, it addresses primary, acute and chronic anal fissures - providing a new definition of the last form - and secondary anal fissures in detail, particularly their medical history, etiology, signs and symptoms, medical findings, therapy and its evaluation, and differential diagnosis. The book also covers all available evidence-based therapeutic strategies. As such, it will appeal to a wide readership, from proctologists and surgeons to gynecologists, urologists, dermatologists and gastroenterologists.