Hemorrhoids are painful, swollen veins in the lower portion of the rectum or anus. Hemorrhoids are swollen and inflamed veins around the anus or in the lower rectum. The rectum is the last part of the large intestine leading to the anus. The anus is the opening at the end of the digestive tract where bowel contents leave the body.

It can be described as masses or clumps (“cushions”) of tissue within the anal canal that contain blood vessels and the surrounding, supporting tissue made up of muscle and elastic fibres. The anal canal is the last four centimetres through which stool passes as it goes from the rectum to the outside world. The anus is the opening of the anal canal to the outside world. There are two types of haemorrhoids, external and internal.