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Deviated Septum Surgery (Septoplasty) - Helpful to OSA patients?

It is well-acknowledged that Deviated Septum Surgery is rarely, if ever, a cure for Sleep Apnea, however, I would like to know if other Sleep Apnea patients had an improvement in their RDIs and/or AHIs after this surgery. For this discussion, I would like to consider feedback on Septoplasty (deviated septum surgery) in isolation and not as part of a more comprehensive surgery.

I am still in my 30s and understand there is no reliable cure for sleep apnea - just good treatments (ie CPAP), however, if deviated septum surgery is very safe and it can lower my RDIs for the next 50 years, I would consider it worth it.

Please share!

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Ha! To heck w/the money! I wouldn't consider putting myself thru the pain of recovery from any type of surgery UNLESS the likely benefit would make it worth while to me. And then, of course, there are always risks from surgery, sedation and/or anesthesia. WHY go thru all that unless it was VERY likely that the risk, pain, and cost would be worth while? I prefer, whenever possible, to save surgery for when I'm dead and/or dying and there are no other options. (Just call me "chicken little").
OSA is due to excessive tissue, deviated septum surgery would help some allowing for clear breathing through the nose. I certainly would not poo poo the surgery.It would be a good compliment to OSA treatment.
One must look at the $$$ and length of recovery. Just how much pain? and is your ENT or PCP on board with this type of treatment?
funny you should ask this question. My 18 yr old daughter just had deviated septum surgery 3 weeks ago before she went back to college. She had almost 100% deviation and could not breathe out of one nostril. A CAT scan revealed that she also had an enlarged turbinate in the other nostril partially blocking her nasal passage. She was constantly ill with sinus infections, head colds, throat infections, bronchitis etc. She would start with a stuffy nose then it would morph into all the other infections. The surgery was obviously necessary for her to breathe normally and to control illness.

The recovery is far easier than it was a few years ago. She had packing for 24 hours. By the time the packing began to really bother her it was taken out. She did have reactions to the meds she was given. She is a hemophiliac so she needed meds for clotting. She was also on pain killers as needed and antibiotics. All 3 meds had the same side effects of nausea, vomiting and dizziness. She did have a lot of vomiting because of the medications. As she was taken off each one her condition improved greatly.

You do need to weigh the benefits to risk. For my daughter it was a no brainer. Consult with a good ENT (ask around for recommendations from people that had the surgery) and go from there.

I do know that some folks with a deviated septum have trouble using nasal pillows.
My father had surgery after being diagnosed with "Big League Sleep Apnea" in 1985. He tried the CPAP as a temporary measure until surgery was scheduled. I don't know how he felt after surgery but I do know that he no longer snored and his apnea diminished. As others have stated herein, it greatly depends on the severity of the deviated septum, the symptoms you will be alleviating entirely vs. those temporary surgical after-effects, and the advice of a good ENT.
I had surgery in May to correct a severely deviated septum and have the nasal turbinates reduced. During the process, the ENT doctor found that my sinuses were full of polyps. All of these contributed to the suffering of NUMEROUS sinus infections annually. Surgery helped open up my sinuses and nostril (it was mostly blocked), making the CPAP for my newly diagnosed UARS a more viable therapy. Although I still have fatigue issues (and insurance problems as they don't want to pay for CPAP machines for my condition), I am much better and can function at work. I also look forward to a season without sinus infections. I would have the surgery again. As others have said, the procedure is a lot less invasive and involved than even a few years ago.
I have experience in this matter. I had nasal septo w/turbinate reduction about 3 years ago. One of my sleep docs looked at my nose and all he said was "dang" (we are in Alabama.) Then he handed me a number to my ent and said go today. Mine was pretty bad "9.5 on a scale of 10." Broken nose x4 since i was 10 and obviously never won a fight! I did not need a sleep study to realize the benefit of the surgery. I could actually breathe better with the packing in 24 hours post op. Snored terribly before and now even without my CPAK rarely get complaints from the wife. i'm not saying this is what you should do, just telling you my experience.

If you do decide to pull trigger on the surgry,i will suggest a few things. Talk to your sleep doc about the ent you see. Here at my sleep center, approx 50% of referrals are from a range of 20 to 30 ent surgeons. So we know their habits. About 5 of them actually will not reccomend surgery for the patients that dont need it. You want a surgeon like this. The rest will generally do surg if it's mentioned in the consult at all (how they get paid.) No offense to any ent's that might be reading but you know it's true.!

Next, septo is not a terrible procedure. Recovery is usually quick and less painful than most any procedure. I was back at work 3 days s/p. Here comes the best advice.......when you return to the office about2-3 days after. They should pull the packing out of your nose. Have someone drive you to this appt. 2 hours before, premedicate yourself. Dont try to be billy bad a#@ like me and not get the pain pills filled. I can deal with a pretty good deal of pain and I cried like kid that lost his blanket at that appt. nearly passed out and wet my pants after the left nare packing came out. Told him afterwards i expected a psych consult to treat my PTSD related to the to babies i had just birthed!

Sriously, as far as the many sleep patients ive seen in the last 12 years i can't remember one saying they wished they hadnt done nas septo alone. Now, UP3 is whole nother monkey. Had a few halty 40 year olds go under and die with that one! That all u need to know about UP3.

Hope this helps, good luck.
Hi Dave,
I had the constructive surgery where part of the palate of my tongue was removed, abnoids, and tonsils. The doctor told me that I shouldn't have sleep apnea anymore that this should take care of it. Well, today after going through all this, my sleep apnea is worse. It started out mild to moderate, but after the surgery and not using my c-pap anymore after the surgery as the the doctor told me to do, now I have severe sleep apnea. I would get a second opinion from someone else before doing this. Lots of luck.
My first surgery was a triple surgery on my deviated septum, my sinuses and my turbinate’s.

Most people have a deviated septum in some degree, without requiring a surgery, but as JNK mentioned it depends on the seriousness of this deviation.

In my case, I would not have this surgery done, if it had not been for the other circumstances.

After the operation I got a new sleep study, and my Sleep Apnea was gone from moderate to mild, but my needed CPAP pressure was the same.

But I am very satisfied with this operation, because my daytime breathing is improved very much.

Henning
I don't meet your requirements to answer your question because I had all six turbinates resectioned along with a septum correction. But you will get some advice from me anyway.

You may get a wide range of replies here all the way from "it was the worst event in my life" to "it was the best event in my life". Just know that from person to person there is a wide range of variability in the condition, highly varying extent of comorbidities, and varying skill of surgeons. So the answer you get from an internet site is not going to be reliable. The best you can do is find an excellent, highly trusted ENT to help you make a decision. It would be a good idea to follow behind the discussion with an ENT with a discussion with your sleep doctor. A second opinion from another excellent, highly trusted ENT would also be a good idea.


Just for the record, my surgery was one of the better things I did for my health. I had the surgery on a Monday morning, experienced little post-op pain, used CPAP that same night, and the recovery was practically over when I had the splints removed on Friday of that same week.
As far as apnea and RDI goes I have not seen very much improvement from any surgery in my experience as a sleep tech. I have had very few pt's that have seen any improvement.

Coming up in the restaurant or club industry you tend to see alot of different experiences. It is lifestyle of instant gratification due to a constant supply of cash in hand. This lifestyle leads to quite a few temptations. Some bad others not so good. Due to this lifestyle and a little boxing experience I have had quite a few friends that have had nasal breathing problems. Most of which have benefitted from this surgery.

Due to a car accident when I was 16 I have had several surgeries over the years. most of which have been on my head. Some were needed, while others were for basic comfort. With the ones that were for comfort I had some big decisions to make. I asked myself a simple question. "Will this procedure make the overall quality of my life better?" If the answer to this question was yes then it did not matter how much it cost me.
I had an operation for deviated septum 50 years ago because of asthma and poor daytime breathing. Since then I have been able to breathe out of both nostrils. Anything that blocks the nostrils, either one or both, makes it difficult to use a half mask CPap machine at night. The procedure is relatively safe and if it will help breathing then it is worth the cost.
I just went to another doctor last week about my sleep apnea and I asked him about the deviated septum surgery. He told me that it wouldn't help my sleep apnea at all. I then told him that the a doctor a few years ago wanted me to have the surgery and he thought that it would help. My present doctor examined my nose and told me that a: I didn't have a deviated septum and b: it wouldn't help me at all.
So be careful about doctors trying to connect this type of surgery with helping your sleep apnea.

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