The parotid glands are the largest pair of salivary glands in the body, and tumors can grow in this area and can become malignant. You need to pay attention to any swelling in the parotid gland under the ear. Auntie Wang, who lives in Jiangmen, is over 70 years old. When she was 20 years old, she found a grape-sized mass in her left parotid area, which was not painful or itchy. The local hospital diagnosed it as a benign parotid tumor and recommended her to have surgery, but when she knew that the surgery might cause the risk of “crooked mouth and slanted eyes”, she refused the surgery and chose conservative observation. The tumor has been growing slowly for 50 years, but a month ago, Auntie Wang found that the tumor had grown significantly and was accompanied by mild pain, so she drank herbal tea and took Chinese medicine, but it didn’t get better. The parotid gland is located under the external ear canal and is the largest pair of salivary glands in human body. 80% of parotid tumors become benign tumors, but there is a possibility of malignant transformation even if the tumor is judged to be benign. Professor Chen Weiliang, director of the Center for Craniomaxillofacial Surgery of Sun Yat-sen University, said that parotid tumors are mostly found in the lower part of the earlobe, preauricular area or posterior part of the parotid gland, which are slow-growing, painless and hidden, so they are not easily detected. These tumors are slow-growing, painless and hidden, so they are not easily detected. After the tumor grows up, it does not cause any functional disorder except for deformity. From the medical history of Auntie Wang, the tumor has existed for a long time and no facial dysfunction has occurred. Professor Chen reminded that when the tumor grows slowly for a period of time, then suddenly appears accelerated growth, accompanied by pain, facial nerve paralysis and other symptoms, and even invades the skin, appears surface rupture, causes mouth opening limitation when invading the occlusal muscle, and appears swollen lymph nodes in the neck, the possibility of malignant change should be considered. Of course, the growth rate of tumor is not the only criterion to determine the benignity and malignancy, and the fast and slow growth of tumor also depends on many factors. Surgery is the first treatment option for parotid tumor. As for Wang’s concern about “crooked mouth and slanted eyes” outside of surgery, Prof. Chen explained that except for very few parotid malignant tumors, the facial nerve can be preserved during surgery. Since the facial nerve is still there, there is no need to worry about “crooked mouth and eyes” after surgery.