Scared To Have A Septoplasty? Fear No More!
- Posted on: Mar 15 2018
What’s new in septoplasty (correcting a deviated nasal septum)?
Ever known anyone that had a septoplasty? 5 minutes in to their story you are convinced that no matter what you are not having that done.
The septum is the divider between the right and left side of the nose. It is made of fine bone and cartilage. Even minimal trauma when we are younger can cause it to become progressively crooked leaning into the right or left nasal cavity. This actually can also cause abnormal growth of the other structures in the nose such as the turbinates and sinuses. The patient can be left with chronic nasal congestion and sinus issues that don’t seem to respond to medical therapy.
Septoplasty has been traditionally been performed under general anesthetic at a surgical facility or hospital. The surgeon would use techniques that haven’t significantly improved for decades to straighten the bone and cartilage. This procedure would take about an hour or more and require plastic splints and packing inside the nose for days. There was
significant bleeding, severe postoperative congestion, a lot of discomfort at the follow up visit when the splints and packs were removed. All in all this older technique was also not very reliable and the patient might have minimal improvement. Unfortunately many ENT doctors are still using this outdated technique.
At Sinus and Snoring Specialists, Dr. Slaughter has pioneered a vastly improved technique. As a Center of Excellence physician he has taught this technique to hundreds of other ENT doctors nationwide. In this modern procedure no general anesthesia is required. Simple IV sedation by a board certified anesthesiologist is used where the patient is unaware of the procedure. The procedure is performed as an office procedure in our state of the art procedure room which typically means a significant cost savings for the patient. With IV sedation there is no sore throat, breathing tube, nausea, and the long recovery of general anesthesia.
Using the modern high definition nasal endoscopes, Dr. Slaughter uses a tiny 3 mm incision to expose the deviated aspects of the septum. These are easily adjusted to the midline. One small dissolvable suture is placed in the nose. No packing, no splinting, no plastic in the nose, no bruising, no yards of gauze in the nose like the old procedure. The procedure takes about 15 minutes and is usually coupled with non surgical turbinate reduction and balloon sinuplasty to open the sinuses.
Most patients leave our office within 15 minutes of the procedure being completed and can work the next day.
If you suffer from chronic nasal congestion or have been told you have a deviated septum, a simple office procedure can now correct this issue.
Posted in: Sinus and Nasal
