I was able to experience a nasal septum operation on myself at an early age and the associated health odyssey.
After years of complaints due to a sports accident as a 16-year-old – it was a broken nose – I started to have more and more problems. Inflammation of the sinuses, headaches, tiredness because I simply couldn’t breathe on one side.
When I had the slightest cold attack, my nose would close completely and my throat would ache in the morning because I always had to breathe through my mouth. Super! And the girlfriend didn’t think it was so great either because of the disturbance at night….
Operation according to the usual method at the time
It was only when I heard about the subject in the ENT lectures that I took up the offer of our professor at the time and had a nose operation myself.
This was done by an assistant using a method that was common at the time. When my friends visited me in the clinic, they didn’t recognize me at first.
My head was very swollen, blue and green and I looked horrible. At the time, pulling out the tamponade scared me more than the nose operation itself.
It took a few more weeks before I was back on my feet and the semester break was ruined.
The procedure didn’t do much good either, as medical aftercare was probably only invented later (ironically meant), the septum bent again, which should not be the goal.
Years later as an ENT doctor
Years later – I was now an ENT specialist – and after several surgeries I had performed myself and the symptoms were getting worse and worse again, I decided to approach the whole thing in the same way as I do with my own patients.
After a thorough examination and clarification of possible allergies, a computer tomogram is examined, which shows me exactly where the problem is anatomically and then determines whether and what exactly needs to be operated on in order to finally get air again. The conchae are also often reduced in size and the sinuses cleaned.
Such a procedure can even be performed under local anesthesia if there is not too much to do.
But in general you “sleep completely” (general anesthesia). Depending on the effort involved, the whole procedure takes 20 – 60 minutes, without tamponade! Unless you bleed more than usual.
Therefore avoid aspirin, alcohol and other blood-thinning substances. If the coagulation is ok and the blood pressure is not elevated, the procedure will certainly not cause any problems.
Only in the case of problematic candidates is a tamponade placed for one night to be on the safe side, so that there is no severe secondary bleeding.
Blowing your nose, lifting and pressing, sunbathing, alcohol consumption and sport should be avoided for the next 2 – 3 weeks so that you heal as quickly as possible.
In my case, I had a good colleague so that I could even supervise my practice conversion the next day after the outpatient procedure.
Some people were amazed, but that works well these days. Minimally invasive technology with state-of-the-art aids make it possible.
Conclusion
The risks and side effects of nasal septum correction are manageable and the patient receives a real improvement when modern techniques are used.