Shortness of breath and frequent runny nose can be a serious problem – it can’t be solved without surgery.

In the long run, a distorted partition causes more problems.

According to Valdas Bernotas, an otolaryngologist at Northway Medical Center, physicians with diseases of the ear, nose, and throat are most often treated with respiratory problems, a runny nose, and frequent ear infections and nosebleeds. One of the most common operations is the correction of a distorted nasal septum. According to the doctor, nasal septum deformities can be both congenital and acquired.

“With nasal septum deformity, patients face several problems: nasal function is impaired, a person can no longer breathe normally. Young people, although they have these problems, do not usually apply, but then, with age, these problems become more pronounced and a person feels that his life is hindered. In the long run, due to the deformation of the nasal septum, not only do you feel an alteration in breathing, but also frequent runny noses and ear infections ”, explains V. Bernotas.

The doctor points out that patients often look for the easiest solution to a problem, which sometimes helps them not as much as it hurts them. Patients who often suffer from distorted nasal septum disorders begin to deal with the problem with over-the-counter nasal drops, but this turns into a kind of “bear service.” When dipped in drops used to treat viral nasal discharge, patients cause a secondary chronic disease – medical nasal discharge, also called inflammation of the nasal mucosa.

Therefore, the only effective solution to cure disorders associated with a deformed nasal septum is septum surgery. It is performed for a variety of age groups, but surgical options for minors are limited.

“In the age of children, until the skeleton is finally formed, surgeries of the nasal septum are not performed, but this is not the case in all cases. In exceptional cases, when a distortion of the nasal septum in a child changes the shape of the nose during growth, these patients can be operated on early. But if the distortion of the nasal septum in a child is characterized only by dysfunction, but does not direct the axis of the nose, operations are carried out only when the skeleton is fully formed. For this reason, these operations are usually performed between the ages of 16 and 18 ”, says V. Bernotas.

Postoperative time has become easier over the last decade

There are cases when patients are considering not only surgery of the nasal septum, but also correction of the nasal shape. The doctor emphasizes that in this case, it is important to plan these surgeries at the same time.

“Let’s start with the fact that if the axis of the nose is deformed, it is necessary to correct not only the tip of the nose, but the entire nose. It is simply not technically possible to do them without relaxing the nasal septum. Let’s imagine that the nose is like a house built with certain supporting parts: it is the nasal bones, the outer cartilage of the nose, the nasal septum. To repair that house and make it no longer Pisa, but the Eiffel Tower, everything must be dismantled and rebuilt. If a person requests a distorted nasal septum and is ever planning to manage the shape of the nose, it is certainly always recommended to do it all in one step. If we initially operate the nasal septum, and in the next stage, when releasing the nasal form, we release the septum again, everything will be done on the scars and the operation will be more complicated ”, said V. Bernotas.

The doctor points out that after about ten years of nasal surgery, the patients had a much more uncomfortable postoperative period than today. While the most unpleasant part, the plugging, has survived to this day, it doesn’t cause as much discomfort as it used to.

“After any nose surgery, it is cleaned with special tampons. In the past, noses were clogged with large gauze swabs and their removal was unpleasant for patients. This problem has been solved for about ten years: special tampons are used that do not cause discomfort. The person has to spend a couple of days with them, after which they retire; then the patient, if he does not touch his nose, no longer feels pain. Only a kind of nasal congestion is felt, which lasts for about 2-3 weeks after the operation. 3-4 weeks after the operation, the nose returns to normal and performs its function ”, explains V. Bernotas.

Younger people are more likely to adjust the shape of their nose

Renaldas Vaičiūnas, a doctor in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Northway Medical Center, is convinced that nose-shaped corrections are also done not only for beauty but also for health; After doing so, patients get rid of the complexes that bothered them and caused them stress, and all of this must have health implications.

“Nose surgeries are often done for various reasons. If your nose is crooked and you have trouble breathing because of it, are you having surgery for beauty or functional reasons? The reason is probably both. People usually file an application with more than one complaint, but if they do it only for difficulty in breathing, it is more the experience of ear, nose and throat specialists, and when it comes to reshaping the entire nasal skeleton, they turn to plastic surgeons. When both are desired, specialists from both fields can participate in the operation, ”says R. Vaičiūnas.

He also points out that younger patients tend to resort to curved nose-shaped correction surgeries, since older ones are more used to reconciliation, reconciled and, therefore, are not complex.

“Usually younger patients report nasal deformities, but sometimes older people, who have not been irritated by the shape of their nose but who at some point have started to bother, decide to have surgery. However, they are usually people who are bothered by the shape of their nose from childhood, when they come of age they go to specialists ”, he points out.

When adjusting the shape of the nose, you have to wait longer to get the result.

The doctor remembers that the surgeries of the nasal septum are reimbursed by the funds of the health insurance, but the plastic surgeries are not reimbursed. As a result, patients are reminded when deciding which specialist to go to for a solution to a problem.

Although patients may feel the results of distorted nasal septum correction 3-4 weeks after the operation, R. Vaičiūnas cautions that correcting the shape of the nose requires much more patience.

“Surgery to correct the shape of the nose is considered one of the most complicated. There are several ways to do this by making plastic closed and open. In the first case, the incision is not visible on the outside, and in the second it is visible on the partition. A surgeon who normally undergoes surgery chooses how to operate, but the first results can only be evaluated six months after surgery. The end result, when everything falls into place and we have a newly formed skeleton, it has to wait about a year. If someone expects a quick result, it certainly won’t be, “says R. Vaičiūnas.

According to the doctor, only after correcting an extremely large deformity, the result can be immediately visible, for example, a patient with an “eagle nose” may immediately notice that it has been straightened out after the operation. If you have had a slightly crooked nose operated, you should know in advance that the result will only be visible after a while.

“If the curvature of the nose is only 2-3 millimeters, it will be difficult for the human eye to notice the changes that have occurred in half a year. During healing, the nose expands, transforming the tissues, the nose can move, so it is not possible to guarantee 100% results. On the other hand, if a person constantly looks in the mirror to see the millimeters, they should not even undergo surgery, because there will be healing problems ”, says the doctor.