OBJECTIVES

We performed a prospective observation study in an outpatient surgical and office setting to compare human post-tonsillectomy healing to human cutaneous wound healing and to established animal models of oral healing.

METHODS

Fourteen teenaged patients underwent planned tonsillectomy. Intraoral digital photographs were collected at the time of tonsillectomy, during the management of complications, and at postoperative office visits. Serial intraoral photographs of one patient were taken at 48-hour intervals from the time of surgery until postoperative day 17.

RESULTS

Intraoral photographs from the days after tonsillectomy revealed a pattern of inflammation and healing that closely paralleled that in human skin and in canine and porcine oral wound models.

CONCLUSIONS

Edema and pain are greatest immediately after surgery, probably as a result of thermal effects and expression of inflammatory mediators that stimulate pharyngeal nociceptors. Pain gradually decreases over time, with an increase in analog pain measures on postoperative days 3 to 5 corresponding to the maximal wound inflammation documented in experimental models. Epithelial ingrowth beneath a fibrin clot begins shortly after wounding. Separation of the fibrin clot about 7 days after surgery exposes vascular stroma. Involution of the vascular stroma and completion of epithelial coverage correlate with decreased pain levels and a lessened risk of bleeding.