The Work of a Head and Neck Surgeon

  When I was a child, I heard adults talk about ENT doctors, and I had the impression that they were the guys who wore weird head glasses and could only look at tonsils, pull out fish spikes, and pull out ears, and I often had a hint of contempt in my heart~~ Twenty years later, when I finished my eight years of medical school and entered the door of ENT-head and neck surgery, wearing the legendary head glasses and traveling through the hospital wards like a miner, I knew that There are still a lot of people who plainly think we are the new generation of fish-prick pullers and tonsil watchers, and at that time I felt a lot of helplessness?  Fifteen years later, I have also been engaged in clinical work for fifteen years, during which I have gone to the United States and Japan for study. Many feelings are not repeated here, for our work, I feel most deeply two words: responsibility. Therefore, I would like to introduce to you the work of ENT head and neck surgeons in China and abroad.  First of all, as always, we will look at tonsils, pull out fish spikes, and pull out ear stares, forever, because the people will always need them. But our work is much more than that, just as a chef who can make scrambled eggs with tomatoes alone will certainly not become a master of the national banquet. The nature of our work can simply be described as both internal and external.  Inside: various types of otitis externa, otitis media, deafness, tinnitus, vertigo, facial palsy, rhinitis sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, pharyngitis, vocal cord lesions, nasopharyngeal cancer, rhinorrhea, various endoscopies, etc. …… Most of these diseases are medical in nature and can be treated through outpatient clinics. At this time we resemble internal medicine doctors.  External: This is the center of our ward work. It includes most of the diseases that need surgical treatment. For example: various kinds of otitis media, hearing reconstruction, electronic cochlear implantation, vibrating sound bridge implantation, bone anchored hearing aid implantation, total ear reconstruction for small ear deformities, external ear canal reconstruction, vertigo surgery, various types of tumors (laryngeal cancer, nasal sinus cancer, temporal bone tumors, skin cancer, parotid area tumors ……) We also provide surgical treatment for chronic sinusitis, nasal polyps, adenoid hypertrophy, tonsil hypertrophy, vocal cord polyps, tracheotomy and foreign bodies in the pharynx and esophagus (such as fish spikes, dentures, etc.), etc., etc. We go up to the skull and down to the chest, involving the most complex and important anatomical location of the human body: the head, face and neck. This is when we are the typical surgeon.  As a qualified ENT-head and neck surgeon, we must be proficient in all of the above medical and surgical disease techniques. To be an excellent ENT-head and neck surgeon, one must specialize and expand on a certain area of disease based on a comprehensive mastery. Personally, I have completely refreshed my understanding of ENT-head and neck surgery through my own experience, and I feel ashamed of my ignorance as a child, but even more proud and responsible for what I do now.  I am more aware that in remote mountain villages and frontiers, due to the conditions, ENT is still and within the five departments of surgery, and the number of surgeries that can be done is quite limited, and the people may not yet know that the ailments they experience can be treated in hospitals with better conditions. Here, I will do my best to keep everyone informed about the development of our discipline, and I also look forward to the majority of patients and friends as the passer of knowledge and love, to help patients around us to take the road less traveled and get treatment as early as possible for early recovery.