Last week a patient from Xiangshan came to review and said to me: Dr. Fang, I recovered quite well after surgery, and the incision was small, but the incision was lower than my neighbor’s, and emphasized that her neighbor was operated by a chief physician in Ningbo, with a bit of questioning in her tone. I was in a really bad mood. I used the latest low-collar incision for the patient, and it seemed to me that my incision was not as high as the chief surgeon’s. It was as if I had done something I was proud of but did not get the approval of others, so I wanted to share my experience in thyroid surgery incisions that I had accumulated in recent years. The traditional incision is usually 2 fingers above the sternum, which is still used by many doctors in Ningbo, including nail and breast surgeons, because the traditional incision is more convenient in terms of anatomical location. The low collar incision is 0.5CM above the sternum, and the cosmetic effect of the low collar incision is undoubtedly better than the traditional incision. As the name implies, the patient can cover the incision by wearing low collar clothes, instead of wearing a scarf or high collar to cover the traditional incision. The indications for surgery with a low collar incision used to be a mass less than 5CM and thyroid cancer without lymph node metastasis in the neck, etc. I think these should be based on the proficiency of surgical skills. First, the size of the mass, I once did a 9*7*5CM mass with a 7CM low collar incision and recovered very well except for the fact that the surgery took a little longer than 120 minutes. But when I first started using a low collar incision, a mass of about 5CM was really more troublesome. Secondly, for thyroid cancer with lymph node metastasis in the neck, Prof. Ge Minghua from the Provincial Cancer Hospital once mentioned in a thyroid conference that a functional neck was done based on a low collar incision with a lateral extension along the skin line. In conclusion, with sufficient technical proficiency, I think a low collar incision is appropriate for all thyroid surgeries. As a final note, many patients and even some medical practitioners now choose their primary surgeon to look older, chief surgeon, old specialist or whatever. For example, this lovely patient of mine came over to question me because his neighbor’s knife was opened by an old specialist in Ningbo, even though my incision was more aesthetically pleasing and the post-operative recovery was excellent. The golden age of a surgeon is between 40 and 50 years old, because with age, physical fitness decreases, hands are unsteady, and eyes are old, which is a major obstacle for surgery that requires delicate operation. Of course, it does not exclude some particularly bullish doctors, such as my mentor, Professor Peng Shujian. There are also some specialists with many titles, who usually go out for social engagements or meetings, and have no time to quietly study to improve their surgical skills. Therefore, the best open knife in a department is often those who are soaked in the department of treatment team leader.