dVH/RALH Question about throat damage from anesthesia.

How common is it to have actual injury to the throat from general anesthesia?? I know it's pretty normal to have a sore throat, but I'm curious about how common it may be to have visual injuries back there...

I woke up like most with a very sore throat and dry cough. A day or two later I noticed a sharp pain at the top of my mouth and looked at that area and saw a long laceration on the roof of my mouth, which has since healed. (im on day 6 post op) Also...ever since I woke up I have had severe ear pain (right side) that I have chalked up to being linked to my sore throat (i get that a lot..where it radiates to the ear.) But it has been so painful for longer than my sore throat and I noticed last night while I lay there in pulsating pain that it seems related to somewhere in my mouth..swallowing on the right side etc.. This morning, I took a flashlight and mirror and went looking around that side. I found the injured area. You know how we have our mouth/teeth/tongue area and then there is the web thing in the back on the sides that separate that part of our mouth to the very back....? Well on my right side, the web part is ripped halfway off!!! I have this bloody tissue just hanging there. I'm seeing my family doctor about it this afternoon just to see if it's ok to leave as is...or if there is something else that needs to be done... I'm so curious why things were so rough for me with the tube. I've had surgery a few other times with nothing like this ever happening....

(((RJS777)))
Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry to hear this has happened to you. I don't know if it's very common. I haven't read of it happening on here, but maybe there will be others who see your post and can share their experiences.
What did your dr tell you and are you going to need to have anything done to fix it? Have you mentioned this to your surgeon? Please let us know how you're doing and what happens with this.
Rita

Honestly, I think you ought to call the hospital and report this as an incident. Whatever happened to you during the surgery needs to be addressed ASAP. I am so sorry that you are having to go through this in addition to all the pain and discomfort from the surgery. Hope you feel better soon!

I agree you should talk to the hospital and report your injury I'm sure it's rare but they should investigate the incident. Seriously. This is not to be expected. Tell them you want details back from their investigation. I'm sorry this happened. I wonder if they had difficulties inserting the tube. At any rate the hospital is liable and needs to know. I hope it heals on its own, quickly, and you feel better soon.

Thank you.

I did go to my PCP, and she looked and was pretty shocked.."wow, they definately injured you pretty bad" or something like that. She went on to say that everytime she see's injuries like this it just makes her so mad. She said it happens way more often than it should, and her advice was the same as the above posts, to tell the hospital. She said hopefully it would help lead to better intubations.

She looked at the area really thouroughly and said that although it looks messy, everything is still intact. Nothing ripped off like I thought. It just got so swollen it looked like flesh hanging there. She also said there was no sign of infection. She offered stronger pain meds for the pain (I declined since I already had strong pain meds at home for the surgery...and they didn't even touch that throat/ear pain) She gave me instructions on what to look for in case infection starts. I was just so thankful it wasn't injured to the point of needing surgery or something like that. I will be letting my surgeon know at the follow up appointment. It is healing up though...doesn't even hurt today. I wonder if it has anything to do with the super tiny mouth I have and am alway told by dentists makes it hard to do work in there.