Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy is a common ENT procedure in both adults and children.
The reasons for requiring tonsillectomy include; chronic infection, obstruction to the airway, chronic pain, sleep apnoea, halitosis or bad breath.
Adenoidectomy is often combined with Tonsillectomy, commonly for chronic nasal obstruction, chronic ear infection or as part of treatment for nasal obstruction and sleep apnoea.
Tonsillectomy can be performed using various techniques, depending on the facilities available. It is always performed under general anaesthetic and the patient stays overnight in hospital.
For four years now we have been performing tonsillectomy using the plasma wand and this is our preferred method for tonsillectomy.
At the end of the tonsillectomy, you will have long acting local anaesthetic infiltrated into the area where the tonsils were. You should wake up without pain and most patients are eating an evening meal.
You may go home the next morning after review and an appointment will be made for you to come back and see Mr Burgess 4 weeks post operatively.