When Do You Need to Remove Adenoids in Children?

Adenoids are a defense against microbial aggression, although they can sometimes carry more germs than healthy tissue and need to be removed. Take note about everything you need to know about them!

Adenoids are ganglia located in the top rear of the nostrils. Their function is to defend your body against infections. If a baby or child has difficulty to breath or swallow, has bad breath, a lot of mucus, sleeps with their mouth open, or even snores, these can be symptoms of something wrong with their adenoids. To clear up any doubts, it’s best to seek medical help. Usually, doctors will remove adenoids.

Adenoids and infections

It’s worth noting that children are more likely to get infections, because their body hasn’t matured enough. Even though adenoids should act as a barrier against disease, they don’t always hold them back when they occur often, among other things.

When there’s an infection, adenoids swell. This can be either severe or chronic, and cause an excess of mucus in the nose. This can make it difficult to breathe and cause earache. Therefore, infections need to be addressed immediately to avoid worse conditions, such as: otitis, rhinitis, acute bronchitis, among other infections.

When to remove adenoids

Mainly, the treatment against an infection consists of antibiotics. If the problem persists, even after taking antibiotics, and the unrest is frequent, you’ll need to seek medical help. Quite possibly, your doctor will recommend surgery to remove the adenoids.

Adenoidectomy, or the removal of adenoids, is usually done in children or babies if they get tonsillitis often. It’s worth noting that a child’s age isn’t a counteractive for surgery. Having said that, it can be seen as risky when performed in children under 3 years old, because of possible blood loss.

After surgery, the patient will breathe better through their nose, they’ll get less ear infections, and they’ll also have less sore throat or mild symptoms.