Has anyone had a Septoplasty for a deviated septum?

[lecach]

I was in a car wreck when I was 16 - no seatbelt, hit the windshield with my face. They said I had a slight crack in my nose but didn't need to do anything about it. I'm 48 now.

Over the years my breathing has gotten worse and I wake up most nights with one side of my nose stopped up. And I snore now too.

The dr. said that due to the wreck my septum is shifted over and the only way to fix it is a septoplasty. They put the septum back in place and correct the turbinates.

I've never talked to anyone who has had this kind of surgery so I am just wondering if anyone on here has had it done and what their experience was with it. Thanks in advance.

 

[DawnM]

I have not, although it has been recommended, so when my friend got it, I paid attention!

They do a local, so you see all of it.
It was painful once it started healing.
She had to keep whatever they put in place for a couple of weeks, so no blowing your nose, no matter what all collects up there
Because it healed around the placement stuff they put up there, it was painful to remove later
She sounded like she had a very stuffed up nose for the two weeks afterwards

 

[SC Minnie]

My coworker had it done in Nov. She had the surgery on Tues and came back to work the next Monday. She was out shopping by the end of the week of her surgery. When she came back to work she said she she still had some tenderness and the stitches and clotting were still there but she felt so much better already.

She had been putting off getting it done due to the cost. She had a baby last year so met her out of pocket max so it was the perfect time.

 

[lecach]

Im in the process of a divorce - will be on my ex's insurance for another month or so. The surgery is 100% covered if I do it while on his insurance - if I wait til I get my own insurance it will cost a lot more. If I am ever going to do it - now is the time.

 

[AnnaS]

I had the deviated septum surgery done many, many years ago. I want to say it was done as an outpatient but I honestly don't remember. The only thing I really remember about it was how painful it was when they had to remove the pact (think tampons up your nose). I literally saw the stars.

About 19/20 years ago, my son was playing catch with my dd (she was about 6/7). Throwing a hard ball. You guess it. She did not catch it and broke her nose. She had the surgery. I was so worried about the pac up her nose, but it was not as bad or near as painful as the one I had.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I had it done at the same time as sinus surgery.
My nose was packed for 24 hours and I had to pull it out at home which felt like I literally may bring my brain out with it and hurt really bad and scared the heck out of me.
After that recovery wasn't too bad.
Although my doctor had said it was a cake walk in comparison to the tonsillectomy I had a couple years prior and I disagree. I'd take the tonsillectomy over the septoplasty/sinus surgery any day.

 

[asta]

I had this done two years ago. By far the worst and longest lasting pain came from the turbinate reduction. I had lived with the deviated septum for all of my life so the turbinate on the side away from the deviated side had grown very large because there was so much space. No packing was involved but they put these oval, plastic things (splints) inside both sides of my nose for a 2-3 weeks. It did not feel great when they were removed but the pain was bearable.

The good news is how much better I breathe after the correction. Two years later I still notice how much more air is able to come thru the corrected side.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Had it done 2 years ago along with a balloon procedure to open up my sinuses. I had splints in for a week, and had to wear the moustache bandage for a week as well. While the whole thing wasn’t pleasant, it wasn’t terrible and I’m glad I had it done. I got annoyed with having to rinse my sinuses twice a day for so many weeks though.

 

[lecach]

I had this done two years ago. By far the worst and longest lasting pain came from the turbinate reduction. I had lived with the deviated septum for all of my life so the turbinate on the side away from the deviated side had grown very large because there was so much space. No packing was involved but they put these oval, plastic things (splints) inside both sides of my nose for a 2-3 weeks. It did not feel great when they were removed but the pain was bearable.

The good news is how much better I breathe after the correction. Two years later I still notice how much more air is able to come thru the corrected side.

This sounds like what they are doing for mine - the turbinate on my left nostril has grown very large. And the Dr. said they'd be putting plastic splint things in too.

 

[Marchand63]

I was in a car wreck when I was 16 - no seatbelt, hit the windshield with my face. They said I had a slight crack in my nose but didn't need to do anything about it. I'm 48 now.

Over the years my breathing has gotten worse and I wake up most nights with one side of my nose stopped up. And I snore now too.

The dr. said that due to the wreck my septum is shifted over and the only way to fix it is a septoplasty. They put the septum back in place and correct the turbinates.

I've never talked to anyone who has had this kind of surgery so I am just wondering if anyone on here has had it done and what their experience was with it. Thanks in advance.

My DH had it done about 4 years ago, after getting hit the face with a puck. It was day surgery, he was goofy as heck on the ride home.
He didn't complain of any real pain. He now very rarely snores, he snored like a freight train before.

 

[cvjw]

I had it done a few years back. Then my teen son had it done a few weeks later. He also had a turbinate reduction.

Both surgeries were outpatient, but we were put to sleep. Went home a couple hours after surgery. Both of us had plastic straws packed inside the nostrils to keep them open for breathing.

Went in a couple days later to have the packing removed. Was not bad at all. Zero pain. We both had very, very easy recoveries.

Honestly, the only thing that hurt me were some of the dissolvable stitches. They were so tender to the touch, and you had to use a q tip to continually put medicine in the nose.

Would do it again in a heartbeat. I can breath so much better now.

 

[adelaster]

Yes, in 2012. I can really smell now, which is actually less pleasant than imagined.

It's rough, took over a year to fully heal and get feeling back in all parts of my nose.

I was born with a deviated septum and extremely small nasal cavities, so the work they did on me is different than what would presumably be done on you. I honestly don't remember all the terms used.

Expect post visits, sinus rinses galore, nose sprays, steroids, and having your sinuses vacuumed with tiny tubes. I had to go back regularly for a while for minor complications.

Overall, I am glad I did it, but the healing/recovery was a trial. Not because of pain as much as a lot of aftercare, etc. They wanted to do another to remove scar tissue in 2014 but I declined.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Okay, not to be the voice of gloom here, but I used to work with a guy who had this done. He's now blind in one eye because of an issue during surgery. Obviously, this is not the norm, but it does underscore those forms that you sign before surgery. Things can go wrong. Hopefully they will not go wrong for you.

 

[Theta]

This post is a few years old.

Are there any current experiences Disers can share?

 

[Skippy918]

I had this done with a turbinate reduction and sinus flush. No packing was done, just the mustache gauze and I couldn’t blow my nose for 3 days.

 

[Turn the Page]

I had it done about 17 years ago now so thing have probably changed.

Before the surgery I had about 80% blockage in my nose and had a lot of problems with things like migraines and sinus infections.

I had my septum moved over 4 mm and 2 turbinates removed. My sinus cavity is horribly deformed anyway but the surgery did help immensely and I would not hesitate to do it again.

I was certainly put completely under for it and had no problems whatsoever. I don't remember how long I was off work for it but I want to say about a week, maybe less. I was 21 at the time if that matters at all.

The worst part of it was being so stuffed up due to the swelling of the tissue for a couple of days afterwards but it was worth it. I was instructed to flush my sinuses with saline solution several times a day during the recovery period which I was not very good about doing so had I done that as I should have my recovery may have been smoother. T

he only other surgeries I have had have been c sections and I certainly found the recovery from my sinus surgery much easier than that.