Post-it Sunday 10/22/23- skin, a memoir by you- neck scars

The post-it that started this theme reads “Skin is a map of your history.”

Throat incisions and neck incisions.

The premise of this series started as a medically trained professional could “read” your skin. By doing that we have a pretty good picture of your health history.

I still think this is true.

This Sunday I am going to focus on the throat and neck scars.

For such a small amount of space, the scars can tell us a lot.

If there is a horizontal incision over the middle of the throat, you may have had thyroid surgery. Surgeons tried to hide this in one of the creases of your neck.

A horizontal incision to either side of the middle of your throat could indicate a cervical spine surgery. Such as an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. As an OR nurse, I would be concerned with proper body alignment during the surgery and I might ask the patient to put themselves in a position of comfort prior to surgery.

If there is a round scar at the base of the neck, near where the clavicles come together, or slighly higher, I would ask about your past tracheostomy history. This is a sign of a surgical airway and isn’t done just because. This can indicate long-term use of the ventilator or injury to the throat that made the doctors concerned there may be airway involvement.

Some patients have had what is called a neck dissection. This is usually for cancer treatment or lymph node removal. This kind of incision usually indicates something about your past medical history and current medical issues.

A past incision, or scar, over the carotid arteries may indicate a carotid endarterectomy, or the rotor rootering of a major vessel of the brain. This is usually done for plaque removal. It isn’t just your heart that develops this fatty material lining the vessels.

Sometimes you need IV access and none of your smaller veins in your arms and legs are good enough, or big enough to support the kind of IV you need. At times like these, an internal jugular IV is used. This could also have been an invasive heart monitor known as a Swann-Ganz catheter. The tip of this catheter sits in your right atrium and feeds back intel about your pulmonary function and your cardiac output.

For such a small amount of total area, incisions and scars on the neck and throat can tell us a lot about your past surgical and medical history.

Next week, the scars of the head and face.