Major Website Review for http://www.itonsils.com/

Posted by: Julia

This is a summary for my major website review. The main focus of this website is to help people to learn more about their tonsils and adenoids, to answer any questions they may have about they subject, and to help them to find physicians in their local area. This website was created by and is sponsored by MedtronicENT. Its main strengths are that there are lots of great links on the website to different topics/subjects, it has a glossary of terms (incase you don’t know what the word means), and it has lots of great information about tonsils and adenoids and the removal of them. The weaknesses of the website are that there aren’t enough pictures, at least not for me. There are however a few, but mainly just of surgical instruments and not of the actual tonsils or surrounding area themselves.
The first sub-page on the website http://www.itonsils.com/tonsil_adenoid_anatomy.html is great because it fully describes the tonsils and adenoids and tells what purpose that they serve. Every person is born with tonsils. There are three types of tonsils: Palatine tonsils, Lingual tonsils, and Pharyngeal tonsils also called adenoids. The palatine tonsils are the ones that are most commonly removed by the doctor during a tonsillectomy. The adenoids are made up mostly of lymph tissue and are located high in the throat, behind the nose. Both the tonsils and the adenoids help the body’s immune system by fighting off germs, bacteria and viruses that enter the body through the nose and mouth.
The second sub-page on the website describes why they are removed. You can go into that sub-page and click on to the different links to find out about the just the Adenoids Only: Otitis Media, Adenoiditis, and Sinusitis. Or you can click on to the different links in Tonsils Only: Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Tonsillitis, and Bleeding Tonsils. There are also more in Tonsils & Adenoids: Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Failure to thrive, Abnormal chin and facial growth, Suspicion of Malignancy, Dysphagia, Speech impairment, and Halitosis. And if you click on some of those sub-links it’ll bring you to more pages. For instance, if you go into the sub-page Why are they removed? and click on to Tonsils Only and click on to the Tonsillitis link, it’ll bring you to http://www.itonsils.com/tonsils_tonsillitis.html . That page has lots of great information on it. It has causes of tonsillitis, symptoms of it, how to diagnosis it, and different treatment options.
Another sub-page that is on the website describes how they remove the tonsils and adenoids. That sub-page is also like the one above, it has many different links that you can click on and go to and find out more information about the different procedures that are used. The three main sections when you first go into that sub-page are: Adenoidectomy, Tonsillectomy, and Combined Technique. As you go into these different links there are sub-links that you can click on to, just as I described in the above paragraph. For instance, if you go into the sub-page Adenoidectomy and then click on to Suction Cautery, it brings you to http://www.itonsils.com/adenoidectomy_suction_cautery.html and it gives you a brief explanation of the procedure with this picture. Another picture on the website is on the Cold Steel Tonsillectomy sub-page, it’s a picture of Tonsil forceps- they are used in the complete removal of a persons tonsils.
I liked this website because it has lots of great information and different areas to go into about the tonsils and adenoids. It was presented very well and it was easy to understand and follow. I liked the fact that it had a glossary of terms that you could refer back to incase of not knowing the meaning of a word, which was very important to me. I was a little disappointed at the fact that there were not as many pictures as I had hoped there would be, but the ones that were on the website were good (more surgical pictures than anything). I hope that whomever shall read this will be able to understand a little bit more about your tonsils and adenoids and what they do.