Functional Surgery: Most Patients Rue Waiting

Why Did I Wait so Long?

Some of the most common remarks made after nose surgery by “functional” surgery patients are: “Why-oh-why did I ever wait so long!” or “I wish I had this done years ago!”

(“Functional Surgery” refers to nose surgery procedures that makes the nose better able to perform its basic function – breathing.)

Some waited for a long while because they were born with a breathing blockage and knew no other way. So for them it was not a question of getting older and more decrepit.

Suffering the effects of bad breathing for many years is fairly common among patients who have:

• A deviated septum
• An uncorrected broken nose
• Allergy-enlarged turbinates

Along the way, the usual suspects show up: snoring and irate bedmates, frequent sinus infections, sleep apnea and perhaps use of a CPAP (Continuous, positive air pressure) machine.

(Read more about the relationship between the need for functional surgery and CPAP machines.)

Part of the problem rests with the so-called “gatekeeper” doctors who are family practitioners or internists in charge of referring their patients on to specialists, if needed.

Those “gatekeepers” should be able to recognize a deviated septum, a twisted nose or enlarged turbinates in the upper nose and see that a blockage of healthy breathing is possibly present.

Simply put: it’s not normal to have lousy breathing.

The next step would be referring that patient to an expert nasal surgeon who would know what to do.

Some patients who have bemoaned a long period of extended bad breathing then become the happiest patients on earth when:

• The deviated septum is corrected
• Enlarged turbinates are trimmed
• A crooked nose is straightened
• A rhinoplasty is also done

All the above only takes a single, two-hour session to better the person’s quality of life for the rest of his or her days. Plus, the patient’s facial appearance is vastly improved.

One patient actually explained why he had waited so long to have functional surgery to improve his breathing.

He heard from other rhinoplasty patients that the nasal packing inserted into the nose after nose surgery was pure misery, causing mouth breathing for five days.

After seeing many patients turn away from surgery due to nasal packing (which is great for holding everything in place and delivering medicines that help the nose heal better) we invented a slim airway known as the Kotler Nasal Airway.