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 ending my day 5 and it has been horrible I think pieces of scab has fallen of and now in those areas even water stings like when you put alcohol on a cut but my tonsil beds actually look like those photos of day 10 and 11 combined except my uvula is still big .. Anything that can soothe the raw skin feeling in the back of throat it makes me cough sometimes I am scared of bleeding
I’m on day 6 and after reading about everyone’s experience with scabs falling off I’m only concern with the amount of spitting, sleep and pain levels going down. I’ve taken the regular 4 to 6 hours regiment of prescription pain pills but haven’t slept for more than 15 minutes every few hours since. Are those related?
And what about the spitting? Does anyone else spit about a mouth full every 15 minutes?
im on day 8,on day 6 i was in extreme pain and went back to my doctor. He told me to throw out my spit cup, everytime you have spit in your mouth take a little sip of water and swallow it. He said the spit was filled with good stuff your body needs and spitting it our only means you have to drink more water! Don`t spit!
Hi. I’m on day 12. So far so (very) good. It’s been a little painful to wake up a couple of mornings around day 6-11 because my throat was so dry. But at that point, it was also about 12 hours since I took my last painkiller (I didn’t bother taking painkillers in the night). All in all – I worried for nothing. Pain has been completely bearable. It hurts, yes!, but nothing like the horror stories I read everywhere on the internet.
I promised myself to write about it if I made it out “alive” :p I was so horrified after all the stories I’ve read, and it really wasn’t all that bad. If your tonsils are bothering you, get em out! I can’t promise you your story will be the same as mine ofc, but I’m just saying that it isn’t necessarily “a pain far worse than childbirth”. Some people (like me) find the pain very manageable. I’m turning 26 next month btw.
A few survival tips: Voltaren (diclofenac) had amazing effect on me. Without it, I could barely moist my mouth in the morning. With it I can eat and drink just fine. The difference is insane. Make sure you get a Voltaren-like painkiller after the surgery from your doctor/surgeon! (do not take any other painkiller than the ones you got from the doctor ofc! that’s dangerous)). So ask for it. I think it’s standard, but you never know.
Andolex (mouthwash) also worked really well for me. Just gargle for ~1 minute before you eat, and you won’t feel much (together with the Voltaren). You can also use it in between Voltaren-dosages if the pain gets to the point where you can’t moist your throat. Just gargle for a minute, and you’ll at least be able to take a few sips of water here and there.
Paracetamol+Codeine I used much more sparingly because the effect wasn’t really That big, plus I didn’t really Need that much of it on top of the Voltaren. But it’s a nice “filler” between the voltaren dosages if you feel the pain starting to return. I didn’t take nearly as much of this as I could, but it’s nice to know that there’s more pain-killing available if you should suddenly need it. I usually took about 1-2 pills of 500mg+30mg each day.
I’m still not through though. Day 12. But it looks like 50% of the scabs are gone already, so I would think the worst is over for my part. It’s been quite an experience. Oh last tip: If you’re like me, you may actually get a minor congestion — the combination of little movement & dozens upon dozens of suppositories can make you a little .. congested. But a few doses with Duphalac (anti-congestion medicine) (thick yellow/transparent goo) mixed with whatever-you-like did the trick for me. The congestion actually had me worried more than the throat a couple of days haha.
Even though the pain is manageable, I would urge you to have someone take care of you the first ~14 days. It really helps to have someone there who can help you and to talk to when the pain is bad.
Hello I’m am 5 days post o.p an let me tell u this has been help i expected pain but not to this extent i can’t sleep eat or anything ended up back at er today on day 5 due to pain my doc was not the best an have me weak pain meds today after getting hydromorpine I was able to make homeade chicken soup two hole chicken legs an some carrots went down fairly smooth.. Although my throat was infected the antibiotics could be why the pain isn’t so bad but the first an second day was not to bad just the sleeping part I had to get up every 30 mins to sip water if not the pain was unbearable. Few times I woke up crying due to pain .. The only thing I can say is super ice cold water has helped .. An gragling with warm salt water also it feels like its never gonna get better at least for me anyway but I seen the light ..u have to just push through it an find what medicine works for u
Well its now been exactly one week since my tonsillectomy and the scabs have started to fall off. This does leave a nasty burning sensation in your mouth and swallowing feels like broken glass running down, however this is no where near as bad as I was expecting and more than manageable, especially with strong pain killers. The worst thing for me has definitely been the taste in my mouth. From day one I have had a disgusting metal like taste in my mouth that gets worse when you try and eat. I say ‘try’ as that’s exactly what I did for 6 days, I couldn’t eat anything as it made me gag and heave (the sweeter the food the worse it tasted) I did drink plenty of water from day one although this still tasted horrible. I’m hoping this is going to end soon as the scabs are falling off and supposedly this is the time the bad taste goes away. Anyone thinking of having this procedure and debating it I would say do it. Yes you’ll have 7-10 bad days but surely better than have tonsillitis 6+ timrd a year like I was.