The tonsils can be surgically removed if necessary. This is called a tonsillectomy. There are two types of tonsillectomies: complete removal and partial removal. At one time, physicians removed tonsils after just one or two infections.
Due to the risks associated with removing the tonsils, surgeons have become much more conservative in offering this surgery. That said, tonsillectomy still is frequently performed in the United States, and complications are rare. The tonsils and adenoids are often removed at the same time by means of a tonsillectomy and an adenoidectomy. However, very young children or children with severe obstructive sleep apnea may have to stay overnight. Many children experience light bleeding within 24 hours following surgery, in addition to fever and inflammation after the procedure.
This inflammation, or swelling , can cause short-term snoring. Adolescents and adults, however, often experience more severe pain. Options for pain control include pain relievers, such as acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and prescription medications. Tonsil bleeds may also occur again seven to 10 days after the surgery, when the scabs eschar fall off. During recovery, it's important to drink plenty of fluids and eat a soft diet. Some people lose weight during this period of convalescence because it can hurt to eat.
Tonsil tissue is particularly important in the first six months of life. After this, our lymph glands take over most of the work and the tonsils are essentially out of a job. As we get older, food and germs can still land in the valleys and crypts.
They can then cause infections to develop, which lead to a sore throat or tonsillitis. Some infections can also cause the tonsils to grow in size. Huge tonsils and adenoids can block the airway and cause snoring or swallowing and speech problems.
As nutrition and immunisation has improved, kids get tonsillitis less and less these days. Usually, an ear nose and throat surgeon like me gets called in to intervene more for obstruction blockage than repeated infections.
Is that true? These small organs are actually quite useful, though. Technically, there are three sets of tonsils in the body: the pharyngeal tonsils, commonly known as adenoids, the palatine tonsils and the lingual tonsils, which are lymphatic tissue on the surface tissue of the base of the tongue, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
When people refer to tonsils, though, they are usually talking about the palatine tonsils. These tonsils are oval, pea-sized clusters of lymph cells in the pharynx at the opening of either side of the throat.
Though they may seem large in children, the size of the tonsils tends to get smaller when a person becomes an adult. Though small and seemingly useless, tonsils have several uses. The tonsils prevent foreign objects from slipping into the lungs.
Think of them as goalies for the throat. They also filter bacteria and viruses. They function similarly but have a few structural differences.
The tonsils are made of secondary lymphoid tissue and covered with an epithelium characteristic of the part of the body where they are located. For example, the adenoids and tubal tonsils are covered with the ciliated psuedostratified columnar epithelium of the nasopharynx, while the palatine and lingual tonsils are made up of the non-keratinized stratified squamous epithelium of the oropharynx.
The tonsils also contain very deep and narrow folds in their tissues called crypts. Like the thymus, the tonsils reach their largest size near puberty and gradually atrophy thereafter. Tonsils : Palatine tonsils can be seen on the left and right sides at the back of the throat.
The tonsils primarily facilitate adaptive immune responses in the upper respiratory tract, one of the most common pathways for pathogen entry in the body. They contain specialized M cells that collect antigens produced by respiratory tract pathogens. The secondary lymphoid tissue within the tonsils functions like the same type of the tissue in lymph nodes.
Captured antigens are presented to B and T cells within the tonsil, then the B cells migrate to germinal centers within the tonsil as an adaptive immune response is initiated.
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