If you've had a Septoplasty, I have questions!

I just had a septoplasty and general sinus scraping surgery two days ago. So far everytime I eat I get a nosebleed from the motion. I cant bend over or pick anything heavier than 5 pounds up. Be very, VERY careful with the inside of your nose because the stitches like to come loose and poke out your nose. Then of course not thinking you kind of rip them out. OUCH. You will want to take pain meds as often as possible, because it's easier to keep the pain managed if you don't even let it start up again. Otherwise it is very difficult to get it back under control. It's definitely not a very pleasant surgery, but it is most definitely better than just leaving things like they are now. Also wolfman, just thought I'd let you know that this is not plastic surgery. It's a medical procedure for people who have a damaged septum in critical need of repair. It's not something your doctor would give you because you didn't like the way your nose looked. It is for health reasons not cosmetic, although some do get lucky and their noses straighten out a bit due to the surgery.

Hello everyone, I just recently joined the Septoplasty club...... but mine was a little more involved....

I am currently 29 and have had problems with my nose crusting and scabbing since I was about 12 years old. I could never breathe very well through my nose, but I found if I picked or blew out the scabs, that always helped. Needless to say I never knew I was thinning the lining of my nose, and also pushing my septum sideways (over time). After 15 or so years of this, and then being on Mucinex every day for a year ( I know, A HUGE NO-NO) I developed a hole in my septum. About 2 years after I got the hole it started to become bigger and the septum then deviated, blocking the right nostril.... but I could breathe better than I ever had because the right nostril was actually getting air through the left nasal passage. My concern was the hole would never stop getting bigger, so I opted to have the perforation surgery, which required the septoplasty as well. The surgeon also did a turbinate reduction as well.

The surgery lasted 3.5 hours. When I woke up, my nose felt like it was burning, the roof of my mouth behind my teeth was numb, and my throat was sore from the breathing tube. They use a breathing tube to keep blood from entering your windpipe. I had a hard time going into the surgery because I was afraid of having a machine breathe for me, but it really is the safest option!

To be honest, I thought the pain would be way worse than it was. The day of the surgery I probably changed the drip pad maybe 5 times, and then 2 times the following day, and that was it. The pain itself wasn't bad, but I was taking percocet. I was only taking one every 6 hours, instead of 2 though, if that tells you anything. The day after surgery I went in to have the packing removed. First they spray something up your nose to numb it a little and open the airways, and then they basically pull out the packing with tiny tongs. It sounds worse than it actually was. It does feel like the packing will never come all the way out, but there is quite a bit of packing up that nose! It didn't hurt, but you could just feel a little pressure.

I came back to the ENT a week later and he snipped the 5 stitches that were under my nose. I just got back to work today and no one can even tell I had surgery other than how stuffy I am from still having the stints up my nose. I get those out on Wednesday. We will then see behind the stints (obviously) and see if the surgery took and the hole is completely gone or not. I'm praying for great news.

I will say that as there were many times in my life where I had to breathe through my mouth, it wasn't a big deal for me to breathe through my mouth for 2 weeks, but I could see how it would bother people. Just remember you are sacrificing a few weeks of mouth breathing for a lifetime of comfortable nose breathing. When I went in to have the stitches out, that is usually when they take the stints out too, but in my case since I had the hole in the septum before the surgery, they wanted to leave the stints in an extra week if I could tolerate it. Piece of cake! :D When they suctioned out the mucus and dried blood from my nasal passages, for the first time in FOREVER I felt I could breathe through my nose! It was like heaven..... but 20 minutes later it was congested again, probably due to some swelling still. But to even be able to breathe THAT good with the stints STILL IN my nose, I felt really happy about that.

So hopefully in 2 days when my stints come out, there is no hole and my nose stays straight. I will post again letting you or future readers know how it turned out. I am actually going to post this on several forums because even though I haven't felt the major benefits yet, I would like to put people's fears at rest as far as what to expect.

Hello, I'm the guest that posted on 11/7. I just wanted to say that so far my surgery has been 100% success. No post nasal drip, AWESOME airflow through my nose, and the surgical site of the perforation is healing better than expected so far. Still a lot of recovery to go, but I have had no problems. The only lingering problem is a bad sense of smell (which I partly had before the surgery) and some sinus pressure because I still have a little swelling. I think today is day 23 post op. No visible swelling, just some internally, possibly from stint removal.

So far this experience has not been bad at all, and I would recommend finding a good surgeon to perform this surgery. I just cannot believe how great my breathing has improved, and I'm still even a little congested from minor swelling and rinsing of each nasal passage with a saline mist to keep the surgical site from scabbing.

I had mine 6 weeks ago (closed Septorhinoplasty) - im not happy, I still block up during sleep and am totally blocked in a morning, this subsides after being vertical for about 15 minutes - after that it varies as to how congested I feel, ive used the saline wash but im not sure what this is supposed to be doing, I still have dissolving stitches that have not nor are showing any signs of dissolving. If i lay on the sofa the side of my nose that is down still blocks up and I have to change sides every half an hour to relieve the congestion.

I had this surgery done on monday and today is thursday..day 2 was definetly the most congested and swollen..but i continue on my meds including T3's which i highly recommend to continue taking..i have to get used to breathing thru my mouth as i am still plugged up ..i have splints in my nose they will come out excatly 1 week later...i am feeling alot better today..and i am going to wash my hair with the help of my husband..i am pretty excited to do that...right after surgery i was asked if i wanted morphin which i said yes too...you should take all pain meds and listen to the drs/nurses orders..i have done everything as i am supposed to and i am feeling much better today...rest as much as you can, take your meds, try and eat small healty  meals..get up once in awhile to get your legs moving...but rest rest rest..

had it yesterday working from home today.  Fine on my feet and everything.  Quit taking pain medication (scared of the stuff).  It hurts, but not too bad.  More an annoying pain than anything.  

Hello everyone. I'm the guest from about 7 months ago (29 year old who had a deviated and perforated septum). I just seen a reply in this forum, so I thought I would add my update. I am 8 months post-op now and would like to remind some of you, or educate anyone considering this surgery.

Again, my surgery was almost 4 hours long because of the perforation, so it was somewhat different than the typical septoplasty.

For those of you who are less than 3-4 months post op and still experience some stuffiness and congestion, it's perfectly normal. Why? Because your swelling isn't even close to being down all the way. At 8 months out, mine is still going down a little. It's about 95% of the way there I would say.

My breathing is still top notch.

For those of you also who are noticing you constantly have to switch sides when laying down, this is because your nose goes through what is called a nasal cycle. Each side will take turns in dictating the majority of the airflow. The typical cycle can last anywhere between 2-4 hours, but I would assume after surgery with the turbinates still healing, the cycle times might decrease.

Just give it time! Do not blow your nose! Use Neil Med Sinus Rinse once your doctor says it's okay. Humidifiers are your friend.

This is really a traumatic surgery for the nose, and it does take a while to heal. Your Doctor should have explained this to you. My blockage was so bad, I noticed results very quickly, but over time, the results have gotten even better.  I guess the last bit of advice I can give, is to find a really good Surgeon - one who is willing to go over all of the operation details, as well as post-op care.

Was there a reason they did the surgery closed as opposed to open? Doing the surgery open allows the surgeon much better and easier access to the surgical site. And yes, typically they will reduce the turbinates while doing this surgery, at least if the surgery is performed open.

Ask a face plastic surgeon to do the operation. Those were the 2 surgeries I needed to have done, then I also asked the plastic surgeon to make my nose straight and take out a small bumb on the bridge since I would already be under. I had it done a week ago and I am feeling good about the results so far.

I had the same thing done 2 years ago. No, it does NOT change your nose's appearance on the outside, although some people will opt to do so. Unless you tell the doctor you want the outside shape to change, it will look exactly the same when they are done. You should feel a lot better in a few days because all of that infected mucus in the turbinates or canals will all be flushed out.

The worst part for me? Waking up from the anesthesia. Now I can breathe better, sing better and get fewer sinus infections and facial pain/pressure. (before the surgery, I had an infection that lasted over 3 months straight!)

I had a septoplasty and partial turbinectomy to improve my breathing (suffered a broken nose a long time ago in my teens). I snored heavily and stopped breathing at times while sleeping. The surgery went fine. The first few days of recovery were difficult, then things started to improve gradually. After about a month I noticed improvement with my breathing. However, for about one year I experienced some intermittent pressure and discomfort around the surgery site. It took 13 months to completely heal and not experience these "byproducts" of the surgery. I breathe better both during the day and night. I still snore, though not as badly. But I no longer struggle to breathe at night. Septoplasty does not change the appearance of the nose, only rhinoplasty does. I am glad I had the surgery - it was worth it. I was fortunate to have a good, experienced surgeon -- which is very important.  Good luck!

My husband had the procedure done. There hasnt been much if any change to his nose. He is on day 15 and still quite uncomfortable. Nights are the worst. He cant keep his nose from stuffing up. He uses hydra-sense now which helps clear it for a while. The hospital told him 1week and he would feel better but I think it will be much longer. He did not get splints ir packing. He has dissolvable sutures.

Hi all, I just wanted to add my 0.02 to this discussion. I'm 5 days post op from my septoplasty, turbonate reduction, FESS and adenoid removal. Yep - I went for the whole package! I, like many others it seems, put this surgery off for a while. Probably almost a year - partially because of cost and inconvenience at having to get time off work, but mostly probably because surgery is scary if I'm honest.

Anyway for me it has been a mostly fine road to travel over these last 5 or so days. I had packing in my nose overnight (maybe 8 or 9 hours in total) which was weird to have removed but not painful - interesting in a morbid "eww" sort of way... The pain has been pretty mild and I'm managing it with 1 or 2 paracetamol a day at most. Today I am able to breath through my nose almost 50% of what I could pre-surgery. Given that it's such a short time out I think that's a good sign.

Other than a short course of antibiotics which I'm finished now, and the pain killers, I've been icing my face (which helped especially in the first few days) and using a sinus rinse solution -

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 - on advice of my doctor. It's really helping in flushing out the gunk.

The only downside is the mouth breathing which I find particularly an issue at night. I wake up in the morning with a very dry mouth and sore tongue however as the amount I can breath through my nose improves this will only get better. I also have some slight numbness in the top palette behind my front teeth. I think this is improving too but I'm not concerned about it as I've read it's a fairly common side effect and not usually permanent. 

Overall I've had a positive experience and I'd like to add my voice to those that say you can get good results from this procedure. My experience did not match the horror stories I had read on the net (though it's important to consider what the potential side effects could be). Talk to your doctor and your surgeon - write down a list of questions and concerns ahead of time and take it to your appointment. If your doctor is worth going to they will be happy to answer questions and address concerns - if they won't then ask for a referral to someone else! Good luck and good breathing!

Andy.

i had the surgery recently like one month bfore... thre wont be no changes in ur nose shape o outside appearance wil b ok.. bcz they do the surgery inside only... simply says, its a common surgery but painful.. i had to breath thru my mouth til they remove the patch...

I am six months post op and having problems with pressure and pain. Is there anything you did to relieve this, or is it just a waiting game? I have tried amitripytlinine and lyrica with no success. Getting very frustrated.