How you prepare
Medications and food
If you have hyperthyroidism, your health care provider may prescribe medication such as iodine and potassium solution. Medication will help control your thyroid function and lower the risk of bleeding after surgery.
To avoid anesthesia complications, you may need to avoid eating and drinking for a certain amount of time before surgery. Your health care provider will give you specific instructions.
Other precautions
Before the day of your surgery, ask a friend or loved one to help you get home after the procedure. Be sure to leave jewelry and valuables at home.
What you can expect
Before the procedure
Surgeons typically perform thyroidectomy using general anesthesia, so you won't be awake during the procedure. The anesthesiologist or anesthetist gives you an anesthetic medication as a gas — to breathe through a mask — or injects a liquid medication into a vein. After you're unconscious, a breathing tube will be placed in your trachea to assist breathing throughout the procedure.
The surgical team places several monitors on your body to check your heart rate, blood pressure and blood oxygen level throughout the procedure. These monitors include a blood pressure cuff on your arm and heart-monitor leads attached to your chest.
During the procedure
Once you're unconscious, the surgeon makes a cut (incision) low in the center of your neck. It can often be placed in a skin crease where it will be hard to see after the incision heals. All or part of the thyroid gland is then removed, depending on the reason for the surgery.
If you're having thyroidectomy because of thyroid cancer, the surgeon may also examine and remove lymph nodes around your thyroid. In some patients, the surgeon uses special equipment to monitor irritation of vocal cords during the procedure to prevent permanent damage. Thyroidectomy usually takes 1 to 2 hours. It may take more or less time, depending on the extent of the surgery.
There are several approaches to thyroidectomy, including:
- Conventional thyroidectomy. This approach involves making an incision in the center of your neck to directly access your thyroid gland. The majority of people will likely be candidates for this procedure.
- Transoral thyroidectomy. This approach accesses the thyroid through an incision inside the mouth.
- Endoscopic thyroidectomy. This approach uses smaller incisions in the neck. Surgical instruments and a small video camera are inserted through the incisions. The camera guides your surgeon during the procedure.
After the procedure
After surgery, you're moved to a recovery room where health care providers monitor your recovery from the surgery and anesthesia.
Some people may need to have a drain placed under the incision in the neck. This drain is usually removed the day after surgery.
After thyroidectomy, some people may experience neck pain and a hoarse or weak voice. These symptoms typically last for only a short time. They may be due to irritation from the breathing tube inserted into the windpipe during surgery, or the result of nerve irritation caused by the procedure. In some cases, the hoarseness or weakness is caused by permanent damage to the vocal cords.
You'll be able to eat and drink as usual after surgery. Depending on the type of surgery you had, you may be able to go home the day of your procedure or stay overnight in the hospital.
When you go home, you can usually return to your regular activities. Wait at least 10 days to two weeks before doing anything strenuous, such as heavy lifting or high-impact sports.
It takes up to a year for the surgical scar to fade. Your doctor may recommend using sunscreen to make the scar less visible.