Parotidectomy

The three types of parotidectomy surgery are:

• Superficial (lateral) parotidectomy: The surgeon removes part of the parotid gland.
• Partial superficial parotidectomy: The surgeon takes out a small piece of the parotid gland that is next to, or wrapping around, a mass or tumor.
• Total parotidectomy: The surgeon removes the entire gland.

• A parotidectomy helps your child’s doctor diagnose or treat a problem with the parotid gland.
• If a problem with the parotid gland is causing repeated infections, removing the gland can prevent them.

Risks of parotidectomy include:

• Facial weakness
• Numbness
• Unusual facial sweating or flushing when eating
• A build-up of saliva in the tissue

Consulting a board-certified otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat specialist) and multi-specialty teams that specialize in children’s care minimizes risks. 

The surgeon will remove all or part of your child’s parotid gland in a hospital operating room with your child asleep under general anesthesia. 

• Parotidectomy is complex surgery because the facial nerve is so close to the gland. Safeguarding your child’s facial nerve takes great care, and so the procedure can last several hours.
• The team may use a machine to help monitor the facial nerve during surgery.
• A breathing tube is inserted into your child’s mouth.
• Once your child is asleep, the doctor makes an opening in the skin in front of your child’s ear and extending down the neck.
• The doctor carefully removes a section of the parotid or the entire gland.

• The doctor uses stitches (sutures) to close the opening.
• The doctor will bandage your child’s head and jaw.
• Your child may have a drain placed temporarily in the surgical area.
• Your child may go home the same day or may need to stay in the hospital for 1 or 2 nights.
• You will get instructions on how to care for the surgical site.
• Your child’s face may be swollen for several days. Ice and doctor-prescribed pain medications will help.

If the parotidectomy is being done because of a mass or growth on the parotid, the doctor will send a sample of the tissue to a pathologist. The pathologist looks at the cells of the tissue under a microscope to help diagnose disease. Pathology findings take a week or two to come back from the laboratory.