Scarless Robotic Thyroid Surgery for Graves’ Disease
Scarless Robotic Thyroid Surgery for Graves' Disease
1) What is scarless robotic thyroid surgery?
Scarless Robotic Thyroid Surgery may be your best treatment option for your Graves’ disease. It uses the latest robotic technology and advanced surgical tools in resecting the thyroid gland without a scar in your neck. Scarless robotic thyroid surgery is still relatively new to many people, but the technique has been available over the past two decades. These techniques were developed because thyroid problems mostly effect young women and men. In robotic thyroid surgery, four small incisions are strategically placed in hidden areas such as natural skin creases in your armpit and around the edges of your breast. The combination of excellent surgery design and the cutting-edge tools used in scarless robotic thyroid surgery make all the difference. Due to the many advantages of robotic technology, robotic surgery is considered a standard of care in many surgical specialties.
To learn more about scarless robotic thyroid surgery, please visit: https://www.scarless-thyroid.com/
2) What is Graves’ disease?
Graves’s disease is an autoimmune disease which leads to overt thyroid function (hyperthyroidism) and often an enlargement of your thyroid gland (goiter). In Graves’ disease, your body’s immune system attacks and stimulates your thyroid gland leading to hyperthyroidism and growth of your thyroid gland. It is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. Diagnosis can be confirmed with a simple blood test looking for elevated self-antibody against your thyroid gland. Treatment for Graves’ disease includes surgery which is often considered as a “definitive” treatment for Graves’ with the highest success rate compared to other options such as antithyroid medicine or radiation treatment. When considering surgery, scarless robotic thyroid surgery may be the best and safest option in avoiding a large incision which is often required to remove an enlarged thyroid gland.
3) Why chose scarless robotic thyroid surgery? Who cares about scars?
Everybody cares about scars! Yes, everybody wants safe and sound surgery, but everybody also cares about their surgical scars. Conventional thyroid surgeries will leave obvious and very visible scars on your lower neck no matter how big or small. After thyroid surgery, an unsightly scar is one of the top complains! With scarless robotic thyroid surgery, your outcome will be just as safe and effective, but you will not have any visible scars! Scarring can be part of our lives, but it doesn’t have to be from your thyroid surgery. Scarring is not just about cosmetics. Your quality of life (social, psychological, privacy, confidentiality, etc.) can be affected by it. You do not have to be reminded of your thyroid surgery or cancer diagnosis every time you look at the mirror. Some people are prone to forming a thickened scar also known as keloid, where an overt reaction to the trauma leads to severely thickened scars. This may happen in 5-15% of the population. Asian and African American people have a higher risk of keloid scar formation. This thickening can extend beyond the actual incisions. Some people may experience dark or light-colored scars. Furthermore, although the scars may heal and remodel overtime, people experience significant neck swelling and firmness under the incision site known as a “healing ridge” due to the compounded trauma to the skin and underlying soft tissues.
See the post-op photo below for an example of an open thyroid surgery scar.
4) So, what are the benefits of scarless robotic thyroid surgery for Graves’ disease?
Scarless robotic thyroid surgery uses the most advanced, minimally invasive tools available to ensure the best outcome. Surgery for Graves’ disease can be challenging because of swelling and thickening of the thyroid gland associated with Graves’ disease autoimmune response. Careful control of blood vessels is important in Graves’ surgery. But most importantly, delicate dissection of the voice nerve to preserve your voice quality and careful dissection of the parathyroid glands to avoid low calcium complications are of utmost importance in Graves’ disease. The benefits of scarless robotic thyroid surgery are not just about cosmetics, it’s about safety and ensuring an excellent outcome. In addition, avoiding a large undesirable scar may have a lasting impact on your quality of life.
5) Do I need to remove the entire thyroid gland?
Surgical treatment for Graves’ disease requires total thyroid removal. Scarless robotic thyroid is designed for a clean complete removal of your thyroid gland. The four widely spaced incision sites across the neck and chest area allows for a full exposure of your neck and provides an equal access to the left and right thyroid gland. Clean resection is essential in curing your hyperthyroidism due to the autoimmune disease that’s attacking your thyroid gland. But removing both the left and right thyroid glands means exposing both left and right voice nerve called the recurrent laryngeal nerve and all four parathyroid glands which are attached to the thyroid gland. This task can be technically difficult. Robotic instruments are engineered to perform such delicate operation. Combining that with the design of the surgery where four instruments are inserted across the chest allows for excellent visualization and access to both left and right thyroid gland. Safety is of paramount in thyroid surgery for avoiding complications such as voice nerve leading hoarseness or more severe symptoms, and low calcium problems from injuring the parathyroid glands which can lead to simple numbness and tingling of your body to muscle spasm or more severe symptoms. Especially in Graves’ disease, thyroid glands are enlarged and inflamed making the surgery more challenging in general. For these reason, robotic thyroid surgery is the most suitable for such meticulous surgery.
To learn more about the importance of parathyroid glands, please visit: https://www.parathyroid.com/
6) I have Graves’ goiter. Am I still a candidate for scarless robotic thyroid surgery?
Yes. All Graves’ disease will lead to some degree of swelling, inflammation, and thickening of the thyroid gland due to the autoimmune process. Some people may develop more severe enlargement with visible and palpable neck goiter. As the size and the firmness of the goiter increases, you may experience pressure symptoms such as chocking, swallowing difficulties and even shortness of breath. These large goiters require equally large incisions to remove them. Therefore, the benefits of scarless robotic thyroid surgery are greatest in removing such large goiters via the usual four 8-10mm incisions. Robotic thyroid surgery can remove 8-10 cm goiters.
Certain large goiters that extend down into the chest may not be an ideal candidate, and a CT scan may be necessary to evaluate the extent of the goiter.
Watch the below video to learn about a young man who came to us with Graves' disease and a very large goiter. After learning about robotic thyroid surgery, he opted to have his operation at our center to avoid a large scar on his neck. Through scarless robotic thyroid surgery, we were able to successfully cure his Graves' disease, hyperthyroidism, symptomatic goiter, as well as thyroid cancer.
7) Scarless Robotic Thyroid Surgery may be your best option for your Graves’ disease treatment in curing hyperthyroidism and symptomatic goiter.
If you are considering surgery for your Graves’ disease due to the failure of medical management, symptomatic goiter, Graves’ eye disease, etc, the scarless robotic thyroid surgery may be your best option for curing your disease most effectively while avoiding a large neck scar!
Here are the facts about robotic surgery:
- Robotic tools are the most cutting-edge surgical tool, and it will continue to improve.
- Optimal exposure and view. Robotic camera is 3D with >10x magnification. If you can see better, you can operate better.
- Familiar orientation and surgery steps. These are the key to safe and sound surgery.
- Robotic surgery is considered the standard of care for cancer treatment in many specialties.
To learn more about the scarless robotic thyroid surgery or Graves’ disease, please visit