90% of the patients that have a thyroidectomy are able to go home the next day.

 Rarely, 10% of the patients might need an extra day to recover and go home on day 2.

 ​Your operation will be done under general anaesthesia. You will be completely asleep.

You will have a camera test before your operation through the nostril to make sure that your voice box is working fine. This is a procedure that does not hurt and only lasts 1 or 2 minutes. ​​

After your operation you will stay in recovery for a period of time to allow you to completely recover from the general anaesthetic. After that you will go to your bed in the ward.

You are encouraged to move your head around normally after the operation with your shoulders relaxed. There are no restrictions at all to our mobility and as long you feel well in yourself you can get up and walk around normally.​ 

You are encouraged to eat and drink normally after the operation. There are no restrictions to your eating.

You might experience some discomfort or soreness when swallowing for a few days which is absolutely normal and will go away after a few days. In the meantime we will provide you with painkillers to help you with the soreness.​ 

Other things to expect after the operation are some soreness around the wound, at the back of your neck and the shoulders. All these are benign and are related to the position of the body during the operation. Again, we will provide you with painkillers and these symptoms should be well controlled. They will completely disappear within a few days after your operation.

One thing to remember is that during your operation we put local anaesthetic in your wound to make it nice and comfortable. This effect will last for a few hours and eventually disappear. If your wound is more sore in the evening or in the morning after the operation compared to what it was before, this is absolutely normal and it means that the local anaesthetic effect has ended. Please let the nurse know and they will give you some more oral painkillers.​

Depending on the operation that you are having, you may have a blood test during your hospital stay to check on your calcium and parathyroid hormone levels. We will make the necessary arrangements and will let you know.

Only for the evening of the operation you will be asked to keep the top part of your bed in a slightly elevated position to avoid the pooling of the blood in the area of the neck. There are no restrictions to your body position when you sleep. From the next day onwards your bed can be completely flat again.​

Mr Christakis will come and discuss with you the results of the operation once you are fully awake and alert.​

Before your discharge, you will be given written instructions in regards to wound care, who to call if you have any queries/concerns and the details of your post-operative follow-up.

Patients are given the option of having a Virtual Clinic/remote post-operative follow-up or a face-to-face clinic appointment if needed or if that is their preference.