Contents:
- Medical Video: Tonsillectomy & Adenoidectomy | Nucleus Health
- What is tonsillectomy?
- What are the surgical procedures for removal of tonsils?
- When should tonsillectomy be performed?
Medical Video: Tonsillectomy & Adenoidectomy | Nucleus Health
Tonsillectomy is common among children, although some adults do it too. Surgery to remove the tonsils is also classified as safe and common. But now, many doctors are more likely to wait and use tonsillectomy only in certain cases.
What is tonsillectomy?
Tonsillectomy is also known as tonsillectomy, a surgical procedure that aims to treat tonsillitis (tonsils) or chronic inflammation in the tonsils. Whereas the tonsils are a pair of small glands behind the human throat. These tonsils contain white blood cells and function to fight infections and bacteria that enter through the mouth.
When infected, the tonsils will usually become swollen and there is discomfort in the throat. In most cases, this problem with tonsils can be cured with antibiotics. However, if the condition worsens and becomes chronic, patients are advised to undergo surgical removal of the total tonsils.
What are the surgical procedures for removal of tonsils?
Tonsillectomy or removal of tonsils can be done in two methods. However, the more commonly used method is diabetic bipolar dissection, because this method can reduce the risk of bleeding. This method is done by using an electric forcep to cover the blood vessels that are between the tonsils and the surrounding muscles. Then, the tonsils will be removed one by one. This method is used to remove the tonsils completely, to ensure that no tonsil tissue is left behind.
Another method is to use the intracapsular method. This method uses electrical probes to break down and destroy proteins in the tonsil tissue. The probe contains a salt solution that is heated with an electric current, so it can destroy the glands in the tonsil layer. This method is not too risky to damage muscles and blood vessels around the tonsils.
When should tonsillectomy be performed?
When the tonsils that are behind your throat are sick and infected, this is your time to consult a doctor. If tonsillitis occurs repeatedly to you, your doctor may advise you to do tonsillectomy. You are also advised to remove the tonsils when the tonsils swell and make breathing difficult at night.
There are certain conditions, which require that someone perform tonsillectomy:
- Tonsillitis infection continues.
- The cause of other problems such as sleep apnea, which is a general disorder in which you like to stop breathing many times a night
- An operation will be performed, if the area around your tonsils is infected and forms a bag of pus, it is called an abscess.
- Doctors will recommend surgery if antibiotic drugs are no longer able to overcome the bacteria.
- The presence of tumors in the tonsils, although this condition is rather rare.
Before the surgery, the doctor may ask you to consider how influential the tonsil infection affects your life or that of your child. For example, some parents choose the path of tonsillectomy when their child starts to get sick continuously so that it disrupts their school activities. Or adults who might want to consider surgery because repeated tonsil infections affect their sleep. With consideration and influence on your life, tonsillectomy can be done according to time and purpose in yourself.
