How to get perfect incision healing for thyroid surgery

  For patients undergoing thyroid surgery, obtaining a “satisfactory” incisional healing is a constant concern. Postoperative scar size is also a concern for many patients.  Combining my own surgical experience and outpatient follow-up, I have the following experience: 1. The skin line of the low neck area should be chosen in its natural state, knowing that once the patient is placed in a good surgical position after anesthesia, the natural skin line may become less obvious because the patient is often in a neck hyperextension position.  2, not the most “excessively small” neck incision, because too small incision brings not only the difficulty of surgical exposure, but also the anatomical structure needed to reveal the skin incision will always be in a “high tension” state, thus causing the skin and subcutaneous tissue In this way, the neck incision will be shorter, but the scar will be much thicker.  3. The integrity of the superficial neck veins should be taken care of to avoid unnecessary damage in freeing the flap and suturing the tissue. The smoothness of the superficial neck vein facilitates the healing of the incision. The concept of minimally invasive should be carried out throughout the whole procedure.  4, Careful intraoperative hemostasis to avoid placing for unnecessary drainage.  5. Fine intradermal suturing of the neck incision, the final step of the procedure, still requires the surgeon’s “undivided attention” to complete. Non-absorbable Prolene sutures can be used, which are superior to absorbable sutures that require tissue hydrolysis.  6. In the early post-operative period, the patient should avoid sudden turning movements of the neck, keep the incision dry, and reduce the intake of food containing pigments.