Deviated Nasal Septum / Nasal Blockage

The nasal septum is the partition wall, which divides the nose into two separate halves. It is important to understand that very few people have a ‘straight’ nasal septum. That means that most people have a deviated (or bent) nasal septum. However, this should not be a cause of worry for most people since treatment is not required unless they suffer from symptoms like nasal stuffiness, nasal blockage, headaches or recurrent colds with features of sinusitis.

Nasal Endoscopy in the clinic confirms the diagnosis and detects any other problems that are present such as sinusitis.

Treatment options are surgical – Septoplasty or Endoscopic septoplasty. These procedures are usually performed under general anesthesia. Septoplasty is a procedure to straighten the septum. This is usually combined with an additional procedure called Inferior Turbinate Reduction, which is performed using a coblation® ("COBLATION is a registered trademark of Arthrocare Corporation, a subsidiary of Smith and Nephew, Inc. The mark COBLATION is being referred to only as a technology for conducting ENT surgeries and all intellectual property rights vest with the registered proprietor".) device. Coblation is an excellent technique to reduce the inferior turbinate size as cold energy is applied to the soft tissue of the turbinate, and these shrink over the next few weeks. Since the inferior turbinates are also a major cause of blockage to the nasal airflow, combining the two procedures gives a good and long lasting result.

After the procedure, a few days rest is required. A soft silicone stent with an airway is usually left in the nose at the end of surgery, and this is removed after 24-72 hours. Removal is quick and painless. After the surgery, 4-5 visits would be required to inspect and clean the nose. The shape of the nose does not change after the surgery.

Key words : Septoplasty, nasal septoplasty, deviated nasal septum, inferior turbinate hypertrophy, coblation,