Geez,
After reading about these operations, I hope that the Dr. will be satisfied in my case with the ultrasound and possibly needle biopsies...You guys scare me. I don't think I want no stinkin neck dissection!! I have been lucky so far that none of my treatment has been disfiguring. I surely hope that I can keep it this way.

Danny

P.S. Best of luck to those recovering from surgery

Dear dig, obviously for all of us ensuring that we got all the cance is the number one priority. But even an old duffer like me had thoughts about the consequenses esthetically of having a neck dissection. I guess vanity knows no bounds.... But I can tell you, and you can see from my picture in my profile here or in the founders story in the people section of the main site, that though missing a good chunk of the right side of my neck, the final result isn't that ugly. In fact most people don't really notice it until they really get a close look at the foot long scar. There are different types of neck dissections which remove differnet amounts of anatomical structure. I had a modified radical neck dissection, which left the majority of the muscle mass intact. This is the most conservative of the choices, and primarily removes fatty tissues and nodes. I'm happy with my choice, and the added feeling of security that it gave me to get everything they could. And the vanity part, well you just get used to it, besides as Ingrid tells it, as you get older your eyes begin to go, and those wrinkles and scars really aren't that obvious anymore.....