In reply
We thank Lipman for his interest in our article and for his comments.
We chose to perform “cold tonsillectomy” with directed electrocautery for hemostasis in our series as we feel that this is the most common method of cold tonsillectomy performed in the United States today, as Lipman alludes to in his letter. This would make our results applicable to the greatest number of practicing otolaryngologists. Even with directed electrocautery, which Lipman writes results in more pain compared with suture ligation of bleeding points, our results demonstrate significantly reduced pain in patients who receive a single perioperative intravenous dose of 1 mg/kg dexamethasone.