Inferior Turbinate Reduction
Nasal obstruction can cause significant difficulty breathing at night, leading to difficulty sleeping and disruptive snoring. Snoring is worsened with nasal obstruction as these patients breathe with their mouth open, yielding a very loud snore. Try this exercise right now, mimic a snore with your mouth closed, and then repeat that exercise with your mouth open – there is a significant difference in volume.
Despite using nasal steroid sprays, decongestants, antihistamines, many patients do not achieve relief from their nasal obstruction. The culprit is often a large inferior turbinate – causing blockage of nasal airflow along the nasal floor.
Inferior turbinate reduction can reduce the symptoms of nasal obstruction by effectively decreasing the size of the inferior turbinates. This can lead to a reduction in the sound of snoring as well.
Inferior turbinate reduction is an office procedure performed under local anesthesia through the nose, therefore, the patient does not have any visible incisions or bruising.
The recovery time after an inferior turbinate reduction is quite short, only 1 – 2 days. Patients can expect some nasal congestion due to swelling. After 1 week, patients return to the office for their post-operative visit. No packing is used during this procedure.
If you would like to learn more about inferior turbinate reduction, feel free to contact us for further assessment and treatment.