The importance of tonsils for the normal functioning of the human body cannot be underestimated. They have the ability to block and destroy harmful microbes that penetrate food or air. Tonsils also maintain the level of immunity within normal limits and perform hematopoietic function.
Infections that enter our body through breathing or eating are localized primarily on the surface of the glands. For this reason, in the case of diseases of the pharynx and oral cavity, accumulations of lymphoid tissue increase and become inflamed.
Consider the most common types of ailments in which tonsils can be enlarged.
Tonsillitis, or tonsillitis
If you have a fever and tonsils, then your body is most likely affected by a sore throat. It is easy to recognize, for this it is enough to look into the mouth. Sore tonsils of red color can be seen in the throat. Often there is a white coating on them, and in the gaps (indentations near the glands) purulent formations are distinguished. A similar inflammatory process in medicine is called tonsillitis. In addition to enlarged and inflamed tonsils, with the disease there are chills, fever, swollen lymph nodes under the lower jaw and under the ears.
Chronic tonsillitis
This is a disease of the tonsils of an inflammatory nature, which has acquired a chronic form. If the process is sluggish, the symptoms are not particularly pronounced. But
nevertheless, pathology is able to lower the quality of human life. Tonsils are enlarged, perspiration and periodically sore throat, rapid fatigue occurs, general malaise is felt - this is a list of unpleasant signs of the disease.
Tonsil cyst
In this case, we mean a benign formation in the form of a small cavity, which is filled with mucus or liquid. The cyst is located either inside or on the surface of the tonsil. Education can occur due to infection, a malfunction in the hormonal background. This phenomenon can be a signal of the development of chronic tonsillitis. In most cases, the cyst is not accompanied by unpleasant symptoms, but it causes discomfort. In addition to having enlarged tonsils, there is still bad breath.
Hypertrophy
In this case, the inflammatory process is absent. And at the same time palatine tonsils are enlarged. Hypertrophy can occur due to an infectious or catarrhal disease, disorders in the vegetative system, low immunity. Usually, tonsils tend to increase in children - an incompletely formed and not strengthened organism constantly encounters bacteria unknown to it and thus protects itself.
Adenoiditis
This refers to hypertrophy of the nasopharyngeal tonsils. There is a disease due to infections and inflammatory processes in a chronic form. Most often, the disease is observed in childhood. If tonsils (adenoids) are enlarged in the nasopharynx , there is a genetic predisposition to hypertrophy, a deviation in the functions of the immune system, which manifests itself in the form of an allergic reaction.