11. What is the external haemorrhoid?
Correct answer:
External haemorrhoids is a term that should be abandoned, as it is applied to a conglomeration of quite different entities including perianal haematoma (‘thrombosed external pile’), the ‘sentinel pile’ of fissure in ano and perianal skin tags. Strictly speaking, internal piles that prolapse should be termed interoexternal haemorrhoids, but this term is seldom employed.
