The parotid gland promotes saliva; a person has two parotid glands, on both sides, in front of your ears. Lumps take place in the parotid because of the abnormal overgrowth of few parts of the salivary glands which causes parotid gland tumour. Most tumours are benign, which are not considered cancerous like malignant and do not occur to the other parts of the body. Hardly, malignant tumours can also be dangerous for the parotid. The doctor will probably gather a needle sample from the lump in order for trying to know what sort of tumour a person has.
What is a Parotidectomy operation?
A parotidectomy is a type of operation or surgical treatment performed for the removal of part or complete parotid gland. The operation takes place under general anaesthetic, which means that a person will be asleep throughout.
- An incision means a cut will be built which runs from in front of a person’s ear and down into his neck. This cut heals very well indeed; the incision is mostly the same as the one applied in “facelift” surgery, and at some time the scar is similarly minimal.
- After the completion of the operation the surgeon will place a drain means plastic tube through the skin in order to avoid any blood clot spreading under the skin.
- Most patients will need 24 – 48 hours in hospital after the completion of operation before the plastic tube can be removed and then a person can go home.
Why remove the lump?
Although 80% of these lumps are benign in many cases a doctor prefers that they need to be removed since they usually continue growing and can become unattractive, and after many years a benign lump can convert to malignant. Also the larger the lump it is more hard or difficult to remove. Lastly, there is always little concern about the same cause of the lump until it has been removed.
