Tonsillitis is an acute infection of the tonsils, usually caused by a virus, but it can also be bacterial.
infected have a red and violent appearance. It generally affects children and adolescents. Sometimes the problem becomes chronic and affects adults as well. During a tonsillitis attack, swallowing can be painful.
Surgery to remove the tonsils is not always necessary. It is only practiced if the person has more than three tonsillitis per year.
Doctors also recommend surgery if, due to the tonsils, other complications such as rheumatic diseases, sleep apnea and chronic uveitis (inflammation of the eye, inside) appear.
It may happen that orthodontic specialists encourage tonsillectomy.
A child with palatine tonsils will have difficulty breathing. This can distort the mouth and cause teeth placement problems.
In other words, today this surgical intervention is used only if the tonsils become real foci of infection or represent a health hazard.
Tonsillitis can lead to quite serious complications, especially for children. The most common is serous otitis. This can be a cause of hearing loss in children. Another complication is ethnoiditis – the little one often has headaches and swelling in the internal angle of the orbit.
Also, because of tonsillitis, the child may have poor breathing.
Tonsillectomy surgery is not difficult. The intervention can be performed with local or general anesthesia and lasts between 30 and 45 minutes, and the patient can go home the same day. A child tolerates the operation more easily than an adult. Patients suffering from sleep apnea or other pathologies may have complications.
Tonsillitis is not a contagious disease, but it can be an underlying infection. Thus, it is recommended that patients with tonsillitis stay at home during the development of symptoms and until they recover or wash their hands regularly to prevent portage transmission of infection.
