Painful lymph nodes in the neck is one of the most common situation and this could happen because of many reasons,. The lymphnodes are the filters of lymphatic system which is a part of blood. So any regional infection, the blood passing through that area will be filtered by these lymph nodes and they will have an abundant collection of bacteria or viruses whatever that is infecting the area. So any regional infection could lead to swelling of the lymph nodes and pain with that. A short term lymph nodes with pain is basically due to infection. So if you treat the basic infection like tonsils, or gum infection or pimples, eyelid infection, scalp infection, dermatitis etc the lymph nodes will also get relieved and they start shrinking in size. They take anywhere between 2 to 3 weeks after the infection subsides completely. So we have to be patient. As far as they are not progressively increasing in size or worsening in pain and start liquifying you need not worry too much about the lymph nodes. Look for change in character or progressive increase in size or from firm consistency they are more and more softer or becoming stone hard we should get it checked by the doctors. Despite the treatment of the local regional issue if the lymph node persist beyond 3 or 4 weeks we should probably get it tested and FNAC is a good choice. FNAC will only give you the present situation. If two years ago the FNAC was normal it does not mean that it can show something normal now also. So it is lasting more than 4 weeks despite the treatment please get it tested.
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