[Parotidectomy in Sjogren-Houwers-Gougerot syndrome]

The authors report two cases of Sjögren's syndrome which fulfilled the diagnostic criteria and which were accompanied by voluminous parotid hypertrophy. In a 42 year old woman, bilateral parotid hypertrophy, in addition to the aesthetic problem, also had major psychological repercussions. In a 59 year old woman, parotid hypertrophy was limited on the right but voluminous on the left, with frequent episodes of parotiditis. Total parotidectomy with conservation of the facial nerve, followed by filling of the post-operative cavity by a strip of sterno-mastoid, bilateral in the first case and unilateral in the second, gave excellent results, diminishing the real degree of infirmity which rendered these patients extremely unhappy and the complications related to the parotid hypertrophy of Sjögren's syndrome.