Creative Ways to Wear a Scarf for Patients with a Trach or Ugly Neck Scar

[Watch the video below!!!]

Given I operate on the neck not uncommonly... a common fear for a patient is how the incision will look afterwards. For a simple neck mass excision, the incision almost always heals just fine to the point nobody will notice the scar.

However, this concern is multiplied a hundred-fold when a patient undergoes a tracheostomy (hole in neck) for severe obstructive sleep apnea or for some other airway reason. It could even be a laryngectomy where the entire voicebox is removed for cancer reasons. 

Who wants everybody to know that there's a hole in the neck... especially for a woman??? Even if there's no hole, sometimes the scar IS noticeable, especially after thyroidectomy, and therefore undesirable.

Scarring from an incision can potentially be addressed with dermatologic procedures, but if no surgery is desired and honestly, what really can be done with a hole defect in the neck... it really boils down to a scarf of some kind to obstruct the neck from causal view.

I mistakenly thought there's only 2 ways to wear a scarf around the neck.

The video below shows 25 ways to wear a scarf! Even if a patient or an individual decides NOT to wear a scarf ever... you should STILL watch the video. The video editing is AMAZING!!!

The actress in the video is Wendy Nguyen who is a prolific fashion blogger who my wife pointed out to me one day.

Singer George Michael With Tracheostomy

Reuters reported today that singer George Michael suffered from severe pneumonia and underwent a tracheostomy during his hospitalization. A tracheostomy is when a hole is made in the throat for a patient to breath through.

Here is a video of what his trach surgery may have looked like.

Michael apparently was in the middle of a tour when he became ill requiring him to cancel upcoming shows.

A tracheostomy is often performed whenever a patient has been intubated (tube down the throat) on a breathing machine for a prolonged period of time.

For more information on trachs, click here. Watch a video of a trach being performed here.



Reference:
Gaunt George Michael says "fortunate to be here" Reuters 12/23/11

Nasal Congestion Affected By How Well the Nose is Able to Cool Itself

Researchers at Monell Chemical Senses Center have figured out that nasal congestion is influenced by more than just nasal airflow. Apparently temperature and humidity influence the perception of nasal congestion just as much as how physically obstructed the nose is.

By having volunteers breath air with variations in temperature and humidity, they have determined that cool and dry air minimizes nasal congestion without any change in how open the nasal cavity is.

By taking into account other measured variables, they have deduced that nasal congestion is influenced by how well the nose is able to cool itself from the nasal airflow specifically. The more warm and humid the air is, the less able the nose is able to cool itself leading to perception of nasal congestion.

With actual nasal obstruction, it may be not so much that you can't breath that causes the feeling of nasal congestion, but rather the reduced ability of the nose to cool itself from the absence/reduction of air circulation within the nasal cavity.

So... if nasal cooling influences perception of nasal congestion, this may be one of many factors that may help explain the phenomenon of Empty Nose Syndrome. Patients suffering from Empty Nose Syndrome have an abnormally open nasal cavity from extensive surgical removal of internal nasal structures... yet complain the most bitterly about how congested their nose feels.

This information may also help guide treatment in patients with tracheostomy who also have a totally open nose, but because they breath thru an opening in the neck, have no nasal airflow in the nose which leads to the sense of nasal congestion.

Based on this new research, in these particular patient populations, providing allergy medications like steroid nasal sprays and anti-histamines may not be the best way of addressing nasal congestion.

Clearly, more research is needed on this topic, but certainly opens other new avenues of possible treatment protocols.


Reference:
Perceiving Nasal Patency through Mucosal Cooling Rather than Air Temperature or Nasal Resistance. PLoS ONE 6(10): e24618. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024618