Tonsillectomy Scabs- How and when do they fall off?
Regardless of the tonsillectomy method used, some sort of scab is going to form over the the area from which your tonsils have been cut, coblated, and/or cauterized.
It’s normal. It is normal. People often become obsessed with the appearance of the tonsil beds as they recover from tonsillectomy. Almost like a recently lost tooth, it can be hard to resist the temptation to explore the new landscape. This too is normal. I strongly advise against molesting the area with foreign objects. Those scabs will fall off on their own. Touching, poking, or scraping on them increases the risk of hemorrhage and you don’t want that.
Many Otoraryngologists, or ear, nose and throat, (ENT) specialists recommend eating a somewhat rough diet, (think dry toast), to keep the affected area clear of excessive tonsillectomy scab build-up. This advice is most often given in the United Kingdom and Australia. Most ENT’s in the United States advise a soft diet.
Which ever route you take, there will likely be formation of tissue that covers the tonsil beds. I recommend following the advice I give in other pages of this site; keep the throat moist, avoid sharp foods, stay hydrated, take pain medications on schedule, sleep upright if possible, and leave those tonsillectomy scabs alone. They will normally begin to slough of at about day seven or eight of your recovery.
What Happens When Tonsillectomy Scabs Fall Off
You may feel a sharp pain occasionally as the tonsillectomy scabs fall off. This is common. This is normal. There is a slight increase in risk of bleeding while tonsillectomy scabs fall off. If you do have some bleeding, try gargling with ice cold water. This will usually stop the bleeding. If this doesn’t work, and bleeding becomes profuse, call 911 or get to a hospital immediately. Don’t panic. In there relatively rare cases, health care professionals have great success at stopping the bleed.
Daily Photos of Throat After Tonsillectomy. Caution: Scabs
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I am 26. Day 12 almost 13 post op (surgery date 2/22/17). This has not been as terrible as I was anticipating. I feel great and wish I could go to work tomorrow. But my scabs have not fallen off yet. Will they soon? Will it hurt? Or am I most likely in pretty good shape?
I had sinus surgery, deviated septum fixed and tonsilectomy on February 10th. I’m 49. And this is mt second tonsilectomy. This has been rough! I ate mostly puddings, jellos with or without cool whip, pasta type foods. I personally liked the way diary made throat feel, it took away scratchy dry feeling. I tried chewing gum to keep jaw moving and mouth moist, but i don’t like it when I’m not hurting so that was a fail. I took 1 to 2 5-325 percecet every 4 to 6 hours and 2 ibuprofen every 6 hrs. Never a time without pain, but knowing with time it will get better makes it doable. I still have the scabs, I’m eating pretty normal now even tho throat still hurts, scabs are thin at nite and then thick again when i wake up. Sinus surgery has added another level of pain. But both are healing Ann’s i can tell the constant infection I have had for years is gone in tonsil area, I just feel better, even with only being 1/2 thru recovery. Good luck too all. Remember the bad pain is only for a time and then you will start to heal and feel better.
I also wanted to add i drank allot of sweat tea refigerator cold, no ice after day 3, till last couple days. Same with drinking mtn dew. Water felt luke razors, so i did not drink it, last few days i have been tho. Dr preferred more water, but he said as long as i had plenty of other fluids he was ok with it…
2nd tonsillectomy? Do they grow back? Arghhhhhh!
You just have to be patient, they have to come off when they’re ready or you risk bleeding. That being said a lot of mine came off when I had warm soup (not hot just warm!) but be careful! I found that by the end of the first week warm things were much more soothing that ice cream or cold things. Hope that helps!
I am 27 and I just had my tonsils removed last Thursday the 16th. This is the worst pain I’ve ever been in. Haven’t eaten yet. Only water and apple juice have been my very best friend. I sleep about 3/4 hours a time. Mostly because I set alarms to when I need to take my pain meds. Which to me don’t seem to be working, but that’s just how intense the pain is. In order to help me sleep I do rub some vapor rub under my nose to help. I wake up coughing sometimes so please please please make sure to sleep with your head raised. Sore throat lozenges worked just a little. Anything with dairy did not work for me. I don’t know why they recommend Ice cream. It just made me feel like I had to spit all the time. Which is hard to do when you can barely open your mouth. Sherbets did help. As long as it’s nothing red, purple or orange. So you don’t mistake it for blood. Hot showers also helped sooth my throat. It may be a task, you may drool, and it may feel like you’re dying, but brush your teeth every chance that you feel up to it. Especially your tongue. Day 4… a few more to go 🙁
Mine were also taken out last Thursday! My scabs are falling off and there is some bleeding. Is this normal? Are you experiencing any bleeding?
A little bleeding is normal. I found that gargling with cold water stopped it for me. If it bleeds a lot, get to the ER
Is eating ice okay ? thanks for reply!
Absolutely
I’m a 19 year old female and I had my tonsils taken out on Valentine’s Day. The day of surgery I felt pretty okay, I ate some Mac and cheese and thought it would be easy, I was very wrong like most of us are. Day 2 I got sick from my pain meds (liquid hydro) and figured I just needed more on my stomach. Then came the severe headache. I quickly realized I was having caffeine and nicotine withdrawals which was hell to say the least. Days 3 and 4 were also hell. I got sick again from the pain medicine and decided to go off of it. (Ps I also had Oxys but those also made me sick even with nausea medicine) Then I had to deal with the pain meds leaving my system which was not fun. I switched to Tylenol and ibuprofen. Every night I sweat through 4 to 5 shirts which is actually still happening. Yesterday was day 5 and I was in a lot of pain but was feeling positive because I thought it was almost over. I showered and tried to floss my teeth, and when I went to gargle some water I choked and all of a sudden was gushing blood from my throat. I live alone so this was very very scary. I tried to calm myself down to keep the bleeding under control but it was apparent that it wasn’t going to stop based on the globs of blood coming out. I got my mom over and she called an ambulance. I suffer from severe anxiety so my panic attack was making things much worse. Apparently it was a blood clot that had bursted on the right side. The hospital said the clot had already started forming again which was “good” but I can’t see how that can be good. Anyways today is day 6 and last night sucked. Crying and hyperventilating came back to bite me in the ass. Ive been very good about drinking ice water through the whole experience and also keep a humidifier right next to me at all times but it still feels like razor blades are in my throat. Trying my best not to lose hope but it has definitely been an awful experience. I’m having the same pains every one else describes (severe ear pain, jaw pain, etc) and I think my scabs are starting to come off. Just wanted to warn some of you, if you don’t think you can gargle, DO NOT DO IT. Hoping to feel better soon because I’m desperately craving a burger. Good luck to you all
I also got my tonsils out on Valentine’s Day! How are you doing now? It’s currently our day 9. I was just curious, even with the blood clot, you didn’t need to go back into emergency surgery to get it recauterized?