Deviated Septum Surgery. UPDATE

[rgf207]

I'm having surgery tomorrow to repair my deviated septum. For those that have had this done, how did the procedure go and how was your recovery? Any tips or advice?

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I'm having surgery tomorrow to repair my deviated septum. For those that have had this done, how did the procedure go and how was your recovery? Any tips or advice?

Can't help, but going to tag along. Both DH and DS need this surgery and are too afraid. I worry about both of them. Can you come back and update also re: your surgery and how it went. I would gratefully appreciate it.

 

[Ginny Favers]

I had it when I was 16. Along with a little plastic surgery to repair my oversized honker.

Surgery was fine, recovery was about a week for the swelling to go down, so I was back in school after spring break. My face was yellow-tinged from the bruising for about a month.

The one major drawback is that I still can not feel the end of my nose, especially when it is cold. It also runs often, and because I can not feel it, I do not know that it's running! I never had breathing problems, so I can't really speak to that. The major reason I had it done was to prevent future problems, and since I hated the way my nose looked, getting that worked on at the same time was an added bonus.

 

[minkydog]

I can't say from personal experience, but my son Christian had his deviated septum repaired at age 10 when he had to have sinus surgery. He was having near-constant sinus infections and passing them back and forth with his dad. CT scans revealed that his sinuses were nearly closed off and his septum had collapsed as a result of a previously broken nose that nobody knew about(Christian falls a lot and is nonverbal, so he has has some other broken bones too--makes me feel like Parent of the Year, let me tell you!)

Anyway, I was nervous about allowing the surgery but we couldn't get this low-grade infection to go away, even after 11 months of antiobiotics. At that point i was more worried about the exposure to the antibiotics than i was about the surgery!

Christian went in for what was supposed to be an outpatient surgery, but he ended up staying overnight.(The went ahead and took the adenoids while they were in there) He has had trouble waking up from anesthesia in the past and it took him awhile to get awake. This did not worry me too much because it had happend before. We had this done in a children's hospital, so the nurses were very knowledgable and comfortable dealing with a developmentally disabled child. Next morning we took him home and he was back to normal very quickly.

We have no idea how much pain there was--Christian is nonverbal and has a high threshold for pain. But he managed with just Tylenol for pain. He wouldn't keep ice packs on so we didn't fight him on that. But there was little to no swelling. We had to do nasal rinses every day to wash away the remaining debris, which he did NOT love. I dont' know if it hurt or if he just didn't like salt water squirted up his nose. But he went along with it. Never had any trouble eating or sleeping.

The best part is this: sinus surgery almost completely cured Christian's sinus infections. In the past 7 years I think has had exactly *two* sinus infections. Christian seemed to have little pain and aggravation afterward. In my opinion, this was one of the best decisions we ever made and has had long term positive effects.

Hope your procedure goes as well as Christian's did.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I had it done about 2 years ago along with another nasal procedure. Can't really comment on the recovery because I think most of the discomfort I had was from the other procedure. BUT, it has been the best thing I did and I wish I had done it 20 years ago when I was first told I needed it. I used to have sinus infections at least once a year, usually more. Haven't had one since. Have terrible allergies and congestion and that has really been reduced, especially at night.

While my recovery wasn't pleasant, as I said I think it was primarily due to the other procedure, but even at that it was not all that bad-- pain was fairly minimal after the first day and I would do it again in a heartbeat for the benefits after.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I had this done in July. It was not pleasant. I had about 8 sinus infections in the year leading up to the surgery. My recovery sounds worse than what the PPs have indicated. I had stitches and packing in both ears and in my nose. I also had a cast over my nose...for a week! I had a hard time eating until they took the packing out (which is gross, by the way). I found the pain in recovery to be manageable with medicine, but I was quite uncomfortable.

That said, I am glad I had it done; the end result has been worth it.

 

[minkydog]

I had this done in July. It was not pleasant. I had about 8 sinus infections in the year leading up to the surgery. My recovery sounds worse than what the PPs have indicated. I had stitches and packing in both ears and in my nose. I also had a cast over my nose...for a week! I had a hard time eating until they took the packing out (which is gross, by the way). I found the pain in recovery to be manageable with medicine, but I was quite uncomfortable.

That said, I am glad I had it done; the end result has been worth it.

Wow, that sounds hideous! Christian didn't have any of that. No packing, no taping. You would have never guessed he had had all that work done

 

[The Orchid]

I had it done when I was 14 which was about 28 years ago. I don't recall it being painful at all. It was a little uncomfortable with the packing at first, but not a big deal at all to be honest.

 

[fall08CP]

Good luck! My mother and brother had it done about 5 years and said the recovery was miserable

But the long term results are so worth it!

 

[sbell111]

I had mine fixed in July while they were taking out my tonsils and doing a few other procedures. It was really no big deal. I blew bloody nastiness for a week or so and it was pretty tender for probably a month.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

I had it done several years ago--and then a second procedure.
I don't remember it being anything terrible--when they take the packing out it is gross.
First surgery right after I got horrible sinus infection ==but that is all I remember of that surgery.

Good luck!!

 

[Mermaid02]

Had it done in 2004 along with a turbinectomy- for me it was no big deal. Not much swelling, no bruising and very little pain. Good luck to you!

 

[rgf207]

Thanks everyone. The one thing the Dr said was that they don't need to pack it anymore. I guess they have a new type of procedure which does not require packing. I'm happy about that . i go in this afternoon. I'll update everyone afterwards

 

[rgf207]

Ok. So it's been a week since my surgery. The surgery went well. I had some trouble coming out of the anesthesia though. I don't recall the exact trouble but I was in recovery for longer than I've ever been before (over 3 hrs). I was down and out for about 2 full days afterwards. Just exhausted. I didn't have any pain whatsoever. The biggest annoyance was that I couldn't breathe through my nose at all for the whole week. In turn, I had no sense of taste or smell. Also, I was winded from doing anything and I'm fairly in shape too.

I had the 2 stents removed yesterday. That was great. I could breathe immediately. I also have my sense of smell and taste back. The total healing process takes about 1 month so I still don't know if the surgery made anything better but the Dr. said it looks great.