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Woman’s Tonsils Grew Back 40 Years After Removal Skip to content Search Home Latest Tech Reviews Science io9 AI Video Deals Best of 2024 Health Woman’s Tonsils Grew Back 40 Years After Removal Forty years after having them removed, Katy Golden’s tonsils returned to stir up trouble again. By Ed Cara Published January 2, 2025 | Comments ( 0 ) | 𝕏 Copied! Tonsil regrowth is estimated to happen up to 6% of the time following a partial removal. © PhotoAlto/Ale Ventura via Getty Here’s a horror story for anyone who had their tonsils taken out when they were young. A CNN article published this week details a woman whose tonsils grew back decades later—necessitating a second surgery for removal. According to CNN, Katy Golden first had her tonsils taken out in 1983 at the age of five. Over forty years later, Golden’s doctor discovered the regenerated tonsils, which likely had been worsening her painful sore throat. Thankfully, Golden’s second surgery went smoothly, and tonsil regrowth rarely happens in general. Tonsils are the pair of round, fleshy masses located in the back of our throat. They serve a similar function as our lymph nodes, containing white blood cells that fend off germs entering through our mouth or nose. Sometimes our tonsils can cause trouble, however. They can get chronically inflamed and infected, for instance, or grow so naturally big that they obstruct our airways while sleeping, causing sleep apnea. So doctors will occasionally remove them. Tonsil-related problems often first appear early on in life, and surgery is usually easier on children, so the procedure tends to happen in childhood. Some doctors, to lighten the burden of side effects like pain and shorten recovery time, will opt to partially remove most of a person’s tonsils (a partial or intracapsular tonsillectomy) rather than the entire thing (a total tonsillectomy). While this procedure has its advantages, it does leave open the potential risk of regrowing tonsils . According to CNN, Golden had her tonsils removed at five to help relieve some inner ear issues, with no major complications afterward. She isn’t sure exactly when the tonsils returned, but she does remember noticing flaps in the back of her throat years earlier, which would often become “super inflamed” when she caught a sore throat. This past fall, she decided to see an otolaryngologist (an ear, nose, and throat specialist) after developing an especially bad sore throat. And that’s when her doctor made the surprising find—a discovery that Golden couldn’t quite believe at first. “I didn’t think it was a possibility. I was in disbelief and shock that tonsils that I thought were gone were causing my pain,” Golden told CNN. “She’s like, ‘Well, they must have grown back.’ And I thought that was just the weirdest answer ever.” Tonsil regrowth is estimated to occur up to 6% of the time following a partial tonsillectomy. Some research has suggested that having a high number of respiratory infections , eating lots of sugary foods , and having tonsil surgery at an earlier age can increase the risk of tonsil regrowth. Golden’s doctor, otolaryngologist Cynthia Hayes, argues that the type of surgery used to remove the tonsils might also contribute to regrowth. Back in the 1980s, tonsils were frequently removed only using a scalpel or bladed tools, which are known as “cold techniques.” Doctors these days will often instead rely on newer “hot techniques” like coblation, which uses low-dose low-temperature radiofrequency energy to remove soft tissue, for tonsil removal. Some research has shown that coblation tonsil removal does seem to reduce the risk of complications like pain compared to traditional methods. Hayes went the extra mile this time to ensure that Golden’s tonsils wouldn’t come back once more. “I actually dissected down to the tonsil capsule and removed that whole tissue,” Hayes told CNN. “Obviously, I don’t have a magic ball, but I don’t expect that she’s going to have a reoccurrence again.” As is often the case for adults who get their tonsils removed, Golden’s recovery was more painful this time. But she did return to the same old method she used as a kid to help her recover faster: chewing lots of bubble gum. And she is looking forward to less awful sore throats from now on. surgery tonsils Weird medicine Daily Newsletter Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. Select News from the future, delivered to your present. Select Please select your desired newsletters and submit your email to upgrade your inbox. 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