What are the common causes of hoarseness in children?

The importance of children to everyone is self-evident. Every time you have a fever or a cold, your throat will hurt, which will lead to hoarseness. There are many common reasons for hoarseness in children, such as problems with keeping children warm, which can lead to fever and other diseases, resulting in sore throat and discomfort. When encountering problems such as hoarseness, what should we do? Let’s take a closer look at it, just in case.

Many parents will find that their children often have hoarse voices. When you go to the hospital to see a doctor, the doctor will prescribe some anti-inflammatory drugs, and the child will feel better after taking the medicine. However, after stopping the medicine for a period of time, the child's hoarseness will reappear. So what exactly causes the child's hoarseness?

Vocal cord nodules and polyps: the most common cause of chronic hoarseness in children. It is often seen in children who speak loudly repeatedly and use their voice improperly. It manifests as symmetrical new growths in the front and middle 1/3 of the vocal cords, similar to the "calluses" caused by repeated friction of the hands. Children of this type should pay attention to talking less, change their bad voice habits, and take medication as an auxiliary treatment. Vocal cord polyps are common in the middle and front part of the unilateral vocal cord and require surgical treatment.

Laryngeal webs: The child has a hoarse voice since birth, with or without dyspnea that worsens when crying. It is divided into three types: glottic, supraglottic, and subglottic. The symptoms vary depending on the degree of obstruction. If it is complete, there is usually no chance for surgery and the baby will die of suffocation soon after birth. If symptoms occur, surgery is required.

Foreign body in throat: Children cry or play while eating, which may cause food, fish bones, bone fragments, etc. to be accidentally inhaled into the throat. It should be removed surgically as soon as possible after diagnosis.

Laryngeal papilloma: seen in children with recurrent hoarseness. The onset of the disease is related to HPV infection. If there is breathing difficulty after discovery, surgical treatment should be performed. The disease may recur after resection, and some children can recover on their own after adulthood.

Other malignant tumors of the larynx: laryngeal cancer, laryngeal fibrosarcoma, etc., are rare in children but cannot be ignored, because if treatment is delayed, the opportunity for surgical recovery may be missed.

Vocal cord paralysis: It is divided into congenital and acquired types. For congenital vocal cord paralysis, attention should be paid to whether there are congenital organ developmental abnormalities. Some vocal cord paralysis has no obvious cause and can heal itself after further development. Acquired causes may be iatrogenic or traumatic, causing recurrent laryngeal nerve injury or cricoarytenoid joint dislocation.

Through the above introduction, I believe you have a better understanding of the common causes of hoarseness in children. Special attention should be paid during the children's vocalization period, because many diseases will bring various consequences later if they are not cured in the early stage. If the throat is in a hoarse state for a long time, it will have an important impact on the subsequent voice change during puberty. Therefore, it is necessary to treat the disease as early as possible, and don't procrastinate and ignore it again and again.