title: Angular cheilitis after tonsillectomy.
abstract: The operation of tonsillectomy requires the oral cavity to be held open mechanically in an unconscious patient, and intra-oral instrumentation to occur. Angular cheilitis may arise as a result of this after operation. This can cause morbidity and delay the re-establishment of a normal diet. The aim of this study was to identify what factors increase the likelihood of developing this problem postoperatively. Sixty patients were randomly selected in a prospective manner. Preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative variables were recorded. The frequency of development of postoperative angular cheilitis was recorded. The prevalence of the condition was related to the prerecorded variables. Parametric analysis showed that the chance of developing angular cheilitis was directly related to the use of diathermy haemostasis (P = 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio of developing this complication if diathermy was used is 3.5 (95% confidence intervals 0.99, 12.4) and operation difficulty may also be a relevant variable. No other recorded variables were found to be significant.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery, Hull Royal Infirmary, UK.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: England
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Ell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002613:Cheilitis / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014068:Tonsillectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*