Is there anything that can be done about neck adhesion?

[Nanaedake]

After thyroidectomy some years ago my outer neck stuck to my inner neck so that when I swallow my neck moves up and down visibly stuck. Although this is mostly not a problem it is uncomfortable and when sleeping at night on the stuck side my breath whistles as it seems to compress windpipe. Has anyone had a similar problem, what did they do and is there a remedy? To be honest, it's been the least of my problems after so much trouble with levothyroxine but now I'm feeling better I'm wondering if I can improve this too?

[serenfach]

Adhesions can be a real problem after any op, but they never tell you this. I had adhesions after a kidney op and the skin used to pull badly. I spent hours with a bottle of baby oil, massaging and pinching the skin so it "let go" of the underlying tissue, and it worked to some extent. Cannot do any harm, apart from a slippery neck!

[Hidden]

Hello Nadaedake,

Right now I am going through the same though my thyroidectomy was only performed a month ago. From my research and a talk with a friend in medical school I discovered this adhesions are caused my rapid collagen formation that sets down on the area in order to close the wound/cut and minimize the risk of infection. It is a perfectly natural reaction which however has the downside of attaching tissues that shouldn't be stuck to each other.

The best thing to do is to massage the fresh scar with an oil like Serenfach suggested. If your scar is old it will be harder and require more dedication. However it is important to mention that everybody heals in a different way, while some people get barely there scars after a few months and don't experience adhesions, others do get them and while some are able to get completely rid off these adhesions others are only able to minimize them. Whichever is your case I suggest you to massage the area everyday for some minutes for several months and be patient because it takes quite some time to see the results.

Nonetheless, if you feel uncomfortable sleeping, breathing or swallowing, you should definitely talk to a doctor about it.

I hope you can find some relief and get better.

[Nanaedake in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. I will try the massage to see if it helps first.