Analysis of Daily Pain Course Following Coblation Tonsillectomy

Background and Objectives: Effective management after tonsillectomy requires understanding pain patterns to optimize analgesic protocols and discharge timing. Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent tonsillectomy for recurrent tonsillitis between November 2024 and October 2025 were retrospectively reviewed. Only patients hospitalized for at least 13 postoperative days were included. Daily postoperative pain was assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS). Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni correction was applied. Results: A total of 111 male patients (mean age, 22.48 ± 5.04 years) were included. Mean VAS increased slightly from 2.11 on postoperative day (POD) 0 to 2.21 on POD 2, followed by a steady decline to 0.98 by POD 13. The first significant reduction compared with POD 0 occurred on POD 6 (p=0.008). Transition from tramadol with acetaminophen to acetaminophen alone did not worsen pain control. Four patients (3.6%) developed postoperative hemorrhage, including 3 cases of secondary bleeding on POD 8 and POD 13. Conclusion: Step-down from tramadol-containing analgesics to acetaminophen alone after the first postoperative week did not compromise pain control in healthy young adult males. Despite marked pain relief, the risk of delayed hemorrhage persists through POD 13, underscoring the need for continued outpatient vigilance.