Hemorrhoidectomy and hemorrhoid stapling

These operations are done by a clinician, most often a surgeon, with anesthesia. ahem does not perform them. Office procedures that come before surgery on these pages, including rubber band ligation, are on office treatments for hemorrhoids.

NIDDK last reviewed its treatment page in October 2016. Opened October 26, 2026, it places hemorrhoidectomy and hemorrhoid stapling in an outpatient center or a hospital, after the office treatments. Hemorrhoidectomy removes large external hemorrhoids and prolapsing internal hemorrhoids that do not respond to other treatments. Stapling uses a special stapling tool to remove internal hemorrhoid tissue and pull a prolapsing internal hemorrhoid back into the anus. The doctor gives anesthesia for each.

Mayo Clinic dates its treatment page August 23, 2025. On the copy checked October 26, 2026, only a small percentage of people with hemorrhoids need surgery to remove them. A clinician might recommend surgery if other procedures have not worked or the hemorrhoids are large. The page then describes hemorrhoid removal, also called hemorrhoidectomy, and hemorrhoid stapling, also called stapled hemorrhoidopexy.

Mayo Clinic says the surgeon removes extra tissue that causes bleeding, using one of various techniques. The surgery can be done with a local anesthetic combined with a sedative, or with spinal anesthesia, or with general anesthesia. NIDDK says anesthesia is used and does not list those three forms.

On the page checked October 26, 2026, Mayo Clinic calls hemorrhoidectomy the most effective and complete way to treat severe or recurring hemorrhoids. Most people have some pain after the procedure. Medicines can ease that pain, and soaking in a warm bath might help. A complication can be trouble urinating, which can lead to urinary tract infections. Mayo Clinic says that complication is short-term and happens mainly after spinal anesthesia.

NIDDK does not call one operation the most effective, and it does not describe urinary trouble or a warm bath after hemorrhoidectomy. Its sentence is the one about large external hemorrhoids and prolapsing internal hemorrhoids that have not responded to other care.

Mayo Clinic says stapled hemorrhoidopexy blocks blood flow to hemorrhoidal tissue and is typically used only for internal hemorrhoids. NIDDK's description is the stapling tool that removes internal hemorrhoid tissue and pulls a prolapsing internal hemorrhoid back into the anus. Both pages keep stapling on the internal side of the problem.

The comparison that follows is Mayo Clinic's, on the treatment page checked October 26, 2026. Stapling generally involves less pain than hemorrhoidectomy and lets people get back to regular activities sooner. Compared with hemorrhoidectomy, stapling has been linked to a greater risk of hemorrhoids coming back and of rectal prolapse, which Mayo Clinic defines as part of the rectum pushing through the anus. NIDDK's treatment page does not state that pain, activity, recurrence, or prolapse comparison.

Cleveland Clinic's hemorrhoid page, updated May 5, 2025 and opened October 26, 2026, also describes hemorrhoidectomy for large external hemorrhoids or prolapsed internal ones, and stapling that removes an internal hemorrhoid or pulls a prolapsed one back and holds it there. The same surgical list names transanal hemorrhoidal dearterialization, in which internal hemorrhoids are tied off and pulled back into the rectum with sutures. NIDDK and Mayo Clinic do not describe that suture procedure on the pages opened the same day.

Mayo Clinic closes the surgery section by saying to talk with a health professional about the best option. The page does not offer a score that picks stapling or removal from a symptom list. NIDDK describes which hemorrhoids each operation is aimed at and leaves the procedure with the doctor who gives the anesthesia.

An exam comes before that conversation on these sites. What the clinician looks at and which scopes may be used is on what a hemorrhoid exam checks. A day-by-day account of the first week after hemorrhoidectomy is not on the NIDDK or Mayo Clinic pages opened October 26, 2026. The pain, the bath, and the urinary complication above are the recovery sentences those pages do print.