Suggest Treatment For Swollen Lymph Nodes In Neck

Posted on Mon, 21 Dec 2015

Question: I have a 4 year old daughter and I noticed a while back that she had some slightly swollen glands in her neck. They are less than 1 cm and move easily. When I look closely, she has 4 of them 2 on each side of neck. She has 3 tiny ones smaller than peas behind her ears too.She isn't sick right now but has had some mild colds lately and has alopecia areata that causes her cradle cap and some hairloss. I guess my question is, how concerned do I need to be about her swollen lymph nodes? I showed them to a dr about 6 months ago and he said not to worry as long as they didn't get bigger or were in other parts of her body.

Answered by Dr. Rakesh Madhyastha (44 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Need not worry

Detailed Answer:
Hello

Thanks for the query

Lynph nodes often get swollen when one has an upper respiratory tract infection and they tend to regress in about 3-4 weeks. Furthermore the lymph nodes are considered significantly enlarged when they are more than 1 cm, tender or matted.
The red flags are
1. increasing size of the node
2. matted nodes
3. loss of weight
4. presence of enlarged spleen
5, fever not subsiding on regular antibiotics

I hope I was of help, if you have any further queries please get back to me

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T

Follow up: Dr. Rakesh Madhyastha (33 minutes later)

So even if she has swollen nodes in her neck AND on the back of her head... it is not to worry? i had just read some articles that said you needed to worry if they were in different areas... also since there are like 7 noticeable nodes... that is still fine?

just want to put my mind at ease. thank you.

Answered by Dr. Rakesh Madhyastha (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Not to worry

Detailed Answer:
Hello

Rest assured that if there are no red flags I had mentioned earlier you need not worry about the swollen nodes

Palpable nodes does not indicate illness.

Regards

Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Sonia Raina