Parotid surgery and the otolaryngologist

Otolaryngologists are performing more parotid surgery and are using otologic landmarks and methods to identify and preserve the facial nerve. Over the past 15 years in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Tulane Medical School, use of the tympanomastoid fissure as a guide to the facial nerve has reduced the incidence of immediate facial paralysis from 60% to 14% in benign parotid disease.