Hi,
I am due to have a septoplasty for a deviated septum and the turbinate reduction surgery the end of March. My left turbinate is swollen on the side of the deviation. I have had coblation surgery (where they use Radio-frequency to shrink the turbinate). We only shrunk the front of my inferior turbinate. This did well for about 19 months (until I caught a cold back at Thanksgiving). Then the swelling started all over again- now in the back part of my turbinate. They say the turbinate reduction surgery is best and long lasting. My surgeon is going to take out the swollen tissue w/o harming the mucosal lining which humidifies your air intake. They should not remove any of your turbinates - only the swollen tissue underneath the mucosal lining. I have heard of ENS too, and it sounds so scary... I am a little scared too. . . However, it would be nice to be able to breathe through the left side of my nose all the time. I don't usually have any sinus problems until I catch a cold. My Cat Scan showed my sinuses were dry - which means no infections or anything in them. I have only a deviated septum which is mild and an enlarged turbinate on left side. I do take allergy shots which have taken care of most of my allergies.
I had endoscopic sinus surgery in December of 2008, the unnecessary surgery has given me ENS ( Empty Nose Syndrome). Now I'm suffering 24/7 and there is no cure.
I went to a doctor who assured me that I will not get ENS from this surgery, he assured me that he would reduce my turbinates by only 10%. after careful evaluation from another ENT, I discovered my Inferior turbinate has been reduced by 30% and my middle turbuinates by 90%. When I confronted the surgent why he reduced my middle turbinates by 90 percent, he said the only turbinate that really matter are the inferior.
Go to www.emptynosesyndrome.org, familiarize your self with ENS, don't do the surgery unless its absolutely necessary, choose the most conservative proceedure and doctor.
I'm convinced the majority of sinus surgeries are unnecessary.
I'm not a doctor just someone who has suffered severely from an unecessary sinus surgery, a lot of doctors do these surgeries because they are profitable $$$.
Excellent and informative post on this subject, and sorry to hear about the complications. Doctors don't do this surgery to make money--too many liabilities,almost all doctors are too ethical--it's just the common practice for this problem at this time. Sinus problems are still a medical frontier. I am beginning to suspect that many turbinate problems are a result of reactions to chronic but subtle fungal or bacterial infections, and I'm posting this to recommend the last ditch effort to avoid such surgery, which is to remove any infection with saline. However, physical abnormalities such as deviated septums may indeed require surgery. Thanks for your information on this subject.
http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/2322