When undergoing thyroid surgery, a small incision will be made to remove part or all of your thyroid gland. This incision is horizontal and between 1 to 3 inches long. The surgery is performed within three hours and you can often return home the same day. Plan to miss a week of work and minimize household chores while recovering. You may feel pain in your throat for several days or discomfort in the back of your neck from the surgery. You may also experience tiredness, chilly sensations and dry or itchy skin and may later be prescribed thyroid medicine.
Instructions
1. Check your incision to see if it is closed up with glue and tape, or sutures, tape and a clear dressing. If a clear dressing is applied, it can be removed in 48 hours. Clear dressings are waterproof and you may get the area wet when showering if you have one covering the site.
2. Take your pain medication as directed and apply an antibiotic cream to the site once per day. Apply this over the tape until it falls off. Most tape falls off by itself in about one week or will be removed at your next doctor's appointment. If the tape curls up, you may trim the edges of it.
3. Check the incision site daily for signs of increased redness, swelling or infection. If noted, call your doctor immediately. Other signs of infection are odorous drainage or pus coming from the site or a fever over 100.4 Fahrenheit. It is normal to have some slight swelling the first few days plus a bit of blood-tinged discharge.
4. The site should be kept completely dry for seven to 10 days. Do not soak the site or do any scrubbing on it for 14 days.
5. Avoid physical activity for a minimum of one week, especially heaving straining or lifting (more than 10 lbs.) that can cause bleeding in the neck due to a rise in your blood pressure. Do not drive until you are completely off any narcotic pain medicine and can easily turn your neck at a 90 degree angle.
Tags: clear dressing, your neck
