Noticed Bleeding And Scabs In Throat After Tonsillectomy. Should I Be Worried?

Posted on Tue, 2 Oct 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 2 Oct 2012 Answered on

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : My daughter hemorrhaged severly at day fifteen post op tonsillectomy--from an artery. She is three. She was recauterized and we are now at day 12 from recauterization. I looked in her throat and saw scabs are still there. I couldn't see much but I did see something black looking in the back of her throat.. Am concerned about bleeding, maybe it was a clot. Should I be worried? Is that normal?

Answered by Dr. Sudhir (14 minutes later)

Hello,

Thanks for the question.

First of all you will have to ensure that she is not bleeding from the operative site again.You can check it by keeping watch on her sputum.

The black think is likely to be cauterised tissue with blood products. Old blood products generally change into black scabs. Please do not disturb or try to remove these scabs as they are preventing further bleed. They will go off on their own.

If there is no active bleeding or any other symptoms, then there is no need to be worried.

Hope this answers your question.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Aparna Kohli