What are the complications of tonsillectomy?
Most surgical procedures share the general risks of anesthesia, bleeding, and infection. The anesthetic risk is, in general, proportional to the health of the patient; and serious problems should be very rare. Bleeding is most commonly encountered in a delayed fashion…five to ten days after surgery…when an eschar (scab) comes off. Post-operative bleeding is more likely in teenagers and adults, as opposed to younger children (who have smaller vessels). The area where the tonsils were removed (the tonsillar fossae) always become colonized with high numbers of bacteria, and often cause a low-grade fever. Serious infections are very rare. If tonsils are very large, speech may be different post-operatively (often temporarily high-pitched and “whiney”). Most often the post-op speech is actually more normal. Remember…very rarely, someone can die from complications of tonsillectomy (or any other surgery); so no surgical procedure should be undertaken lightly.
