The detail of an anatomical approach to the operation of total thyroid lobectomy is shown in this film. The following points of technique are stressed: 1. adequate exposure achieved by division of strap muscles following identification of the internal jugular vein; 2. dissection of the upper pole with individual ligation of superior thyroid vessels on the gland surface to protect the external laryngeal nerve; 3. careful dissection in the areolar tissue of the tracheoesophageal groove to identify the recurrent laryngeal nerve to its entry to the larynx; 4. ligation of branches of the inferior thyroid artery on the gland surface to protect the blood supply of the parathyroid glands; 5. dissection of any visualized parathyroid glands from the thyroid capsule; 6. careful and meticulous dissection in a bloodless field; and, 7. suction drainage of the space superficial and deep to the strap muscles to reduce postoperative morbidity from edema, hemorrhage and infection.