One of the most common remarks in plastic surgery reviews wherein happy patients write thank-you notes to plastic surgeons is: “Why did I wait so long?”
Those wondering about waiting are often those who had breathing troubles due to blocked breathing channels inside the nose. Results? Frequent sinus woes, loud snoring, CPAP masks and lousy sleep resulting in lackadaisical daytime efforts.
Included in this sleepy group are:
- People with deviated septums
- Unrepaired broken noses and fractures
- Patients who suffer allergy-induced swollen turbinates
- People with twisted noses
Nasal surgeons have long observed that twisted noses on the outside are usually twisted on the inside too.
The true bugbear: a lack of oxygen which affects all the organs of the body, most particularly the brain.
(Read what patients have written about waiting for nose surgery.)
Many with unattractive noses have rhinoplasty during the same operation, given it’s a considerable savings to have the second, nose job procedure while still on the operating table in a single two-hour procedure.
Part of the reason some wait too long is because they are accustomed to bad breathing from an early age. Once they can breathe again, it’s the difference of night and day, with patients exclaiming the joy of daytime alertness.
Among the most thrilled are those with a corrected deviated septum, trimmed turbinates and, if needed, a nose job. For the many teens we see, they improved their noses, breathing and general health for another six or seven decades.
Long story short: Being unable to breathe normally is, well, not normal.
Some fault should be laid at the feet of gatekeeper doctors, some of whom fail to spot bad nasal architecture. A crooked nose or deviated septum is fairly easy to see nd one thinks a family practitioner or internist could look inside the nose to spot enlarged turbinates.
Yet another reason for waiting deals with bad press and rumors about the period after-surgery.
In a nutshell: many nasal surgeons insert into the nose packing soaked with important medications to promote healing, zap infections and control bleeding. But packing blocks breathing through the nose for a few days. It’s no fun. But that used to be the case.
Now, we capture the best of each world by wrapping packing around special breathing tubes, allowing normal breathing during healing.
(Read more about the breathing tubes, the Kotler Nasal Airway.)
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The patient below and left shows the Kotler Nasal Airway (KTA) inserted into her nose just after surgery. The KTA breathing tubes are shown by themselves on the right.
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