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Thyroglossal Duct Cyst

My question requires a bit of background.  I am 28 years old today. I develop a thyroglossal duct cyst when I was one and half and I had surgery (the Sistrunk procedure).  I believe that I had a postoperative infection (and preoperative).  Everything healed up and I had a scare for a long time.  When I was 12 years old it returned infected.  I was treated with antibotics but no sugery.  I am not certain if we did not opt for the surgery because we could not afford it, or because it was not recomended or because I did not want to do it.  All are possible.  The antibotics took the infection away and it did not bother me again until I was 16 years old.  This time the ENT specialist that I was normally seeing was not at the hospital which we had to drive 2 hours to visit and his fill in decided to take a sample (and the need was not thin!)  because he wanted to see if it was cancerous.  Again I was treated with antibotics and it reoccurred again when I was 18.  This time the leakage would build up under a film of skin and I would have to lance it once a day to relieve the pressure.  This continued for months.  I don't think I was too interested in visiting a doctor at this point, and most likely  I did not have insurance or money to cover the cost of a visit any way.    At some point the "film" stopped building up and it would just leak out when I would drink or eat and sometime if I were to talk for a long period of time.  Over the years the consistance of the mucus has become less thick and clear instead of the snot like consistance and heavy flow it orginally had.
So my question is after 10 years of living with this, with very little pain (unless I am sick with a sinius infection or cold, then it is tender when swallowing) should I bother trying to find a doctor for this? It is more of an annoyance than anything else.  Besides from the research that I have done it seems like the rate of reoccurance for me after another surgery is going to be pretty good, so why should I bother with it?  My thyroid functions normally, and last time I checked I don't have cancer.
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Avatar universal
My son aged 21 was diagnosed at age 18 he has now had four recurrences of the cyst and has had three operations including removal of hyoid bone and glands. What would you do if you were him he is badly scarred and getting more depressed by the day. How many times can this be operated on what would happen if it wad just left? Help pleasE
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657357 tn?1240342642
Happy Birthday!
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Avatar universal
898
"The removal of a thyroglossal duct or sinus is a common pediatric surgical operation. It has been taught that if the duct remnant is removed down to and including the middle third of the hyoid bone, the "correct" operation has been done. The three authors have an experience totaling over 60 years in pediatric surgery during which time they operated on 270 thyroglossal duct cysts and sinuses. In this group were 27 recurrences of which three belonged to the authors. Most recurrent thyroglossal duct remnants were found to have the middle third of the hyoid bone still in place, and with its removal the patients were cured. However, during this period of time, there were thyroglossal duct cysts and sinuses which recurred in spite of the "correct" surgical procedure having been done. These patients had all been operated on between three and five times thus creating a difficult and unusual problem. The solution to these recurrent thyroglossal duct cysts and sinuses were deeper excisions to remove residual tracts deep to the previously removed hyoid bone, and/or wider excisions to excise previously missed respiratory epithelial remnants which deviated laterally from the midline. The latter tissue was found to be a more centrally directed branchial cleft sinus."
Based on this article I may conclude that the initial surgery was incomplete; this caused reocurrance.
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