Anal fissure is a common painful condition affecting the anal canal. Chronic anal fissures are traditionally treated by manual anal dilatation or lateral internal sphincterotomy. There is a degree of anal incontinence with these procedures. Subcutaneous fissurectomy was performed in 20 cases with a control of 20 cases operated by lateral internal sphincterotomy. Results were evaluated for pain relief (p<0.01), incontinence (p= 0.03), and no. of work days lost (p< 0.01). Subcutaneous fissurectomy was found to yield superior results when compared to lateral internal sphincterotomy.