Why would someone need a uvulectomy?

Answer 1

The uvula is a little bag of of fleshy tissue at the back of the throat. A uvulectomy, or the removal of someone's uvula, is a treatment sometimes applied in more or less crude fashion by African witch doctors and tribal medicine men. They believe that illnesses and evil spirits and other terrible things hide at the back of the throat, and to cut away the uvula is their answer to quite a few illnesses; especially those illnesses they have not succeeded in removing in a more regular fashion. It is often done to small children as a precautional measure, similar to having one's adenoids cut. A lot of blood runns through the uvula. To cut it without proper precautions means to cause serious bleeding. If the patient survives the bleeding, infections may occur because of the unclean environment the procedure takes place in. In short, the uvulectomy is something modern medicine in Africa tries hard to stamp out a traditional medical treatment, because it only causes pain and mortal danger. In the West, uvulectomy (under more sterile and safe conditions) is sometimes suggested to alleviate sleep apnea and/or heavy snoring.