Deviated Septum Surgery?

[GottaGetToDisney!]

Has anyone experienced this?

Five years ago, while we were vacationing in DisneyWorld, my son broke my nose (I was leaning down to pull him up on my lap, at the same time he was jumping up-crack! Three year old's massive head meets mom's nose). I really didn't think it was broken at the time - it did swell a little bit and was slightly tender.

Fast forward to my appt. with the ENT doc today and he asks if I've ever broken my nose. I say "No! Not that I can think of- ohhhh....wait a sec. I'm thinking maybe yes." Apparently my son really did a number on my septum and I have had problems with breathing and nasal congestion (I put it down to allergies).

I'm not so sure about this surgery, especially the sound of the recovery time. Can anyone offer advice/words of encouragement/warnings?

TIA! Gotta Get To Disney!

 

[Aisling]

My 16 year old son had it done. His septum was 90% blocked, it was so crooked. The surgery took about 1 hour, he was put under general anaesthesia, and he was out of the hospital 5 hours later. We had to keep changing the external gauze every hour, and he had internal gauze in for a few days, when we went back for the doctor to pull it all out. He was in pain, but he was a trooper about it all. The doctor said it would be 10 days before the swelling went down enough for him to breathe through his nose, and until that point, he had a very dry throat from mouth-breathing.

The doctor cut under the nose, between the lip and nose, lifted up the nose, straightened the septum, then broke the nose to correct the crookedness. He had stitches, just a few, to sew the nose back down again. He's very glad he did it, because he can breathe 100% normally now, and has a beautiful nose. I'd say it took two weeks for the pain/swelling to fully go away, and a month for all the bruising to be gone.

WARNING: scroll down to see his photos.

The gauze and gooey nostril plugs were removed in this pic.


3 months later:

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

oh my gosh, your poor DS. Sounds like he is such a trooper.
When I was in HS a friend of mine got it done and I remember her coming back to work with 2 black eyes (well the part underneath the eye).

 

[Aisling]

oh my gosh, your poor DS. Sounds like he is such a trooper.
When I was in HS a friend of mine got it done and I remember her coming back to work with 2 black eyes (well the part underneath the eye).

I added a photo of him after his recovery, so you see it turned out A-OK!

 

[MomofKatie]

I had my severely deviated septum fixed when I was 19 (back in the mid 80's). I had damaged it badly when I was a little kid- fell flat on my face from 5' off the ground- and I couldn't breathe at all through my nose when I was lying down.

Surgery went OK- I still don't have perfect breathing at night, but it is much better than it was. I was put under general anesthetic and the surgery lasted about 2 hours. All work was done from inside, so I didn't have any visible stitches. Woke up with lots of soreness and 2 black eyes. Very swollen cheeks/nose, splint on nose, gauze packing inside. Had bandages/packing removed about a week later- was still swollen, but could see that the bridge was thinner and straighter.

I guess it took maybe 4-6 months for the swelling to go away completely, and I was advised to stay out of the sun while my nose healed. Really, once the first few weeks were done, there wasn't any more pain.

Good luck- you will be able to breathe better once the surgery is done with. And, if you would like any subtle reshaping, go ahead and have it done while they are there! I had my tip and bridge thinned a bit (my nose was really wide after being flattened so at such a young age).

 

[MissFitt]

I had mine done about 25 years ago (wow! can't believe it's been that long) My story sounds the same as the rest except my surgery was 3 hours long! I don't really remember breaking my nose but I guess it happened when I fell off my bike as a kid. As I got older, it got worse to the point where I could not breathe through my nose at all. Doctor said he had to remove a bunch of tissue that had died off and even some good tissue that he was able to use to rebuild some cocaine addict's nose (yes, it was the 80s)

The surgery was the best thing I did and all these years later I'm able to breathe normally through my nose (and it looks a heck of a lot better too!)

 

[SaraJayne]

I have a deviated septum (hence my terrible sleep apnea) but insurance won't pay to have it fixed. I have a hard time just breathing normally while sitting up and laying down, I feel like I'm choking.

Their reason? I haven't tried enough "alternatives" to fix it. Really?? Like what am I supposed to do to "fix" a deviated septum?

But they'll pay for a sleep study and a cpap. Go figure.

 

[Green Tea]

Mine was done. The incisions were all inside though, not like the child in the photo. All was fine until I read the surgical notes where it talked about actually taking the nose apart and reconstructing it outside, then putting it back in. Blech. The pain was not as bad as I feared it would be. I was afraid to fall asleep for fear of messing it up. But all was fine.

I did not have the bruising around the eyes to the extent of the pictures posted. I remember having to have gauze taped over the bottom though, over the nostrils.

Im glad I did it.

 

[browneyes106]

I had surgery on my nose last January and it has helped me a lot. I also have SA. The recovery time wasn't too bad. I had interntal plastic splints in my nose for a week. I drained a lot for a few days after the surgery.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

I had surgery April 2009.
I have to say that pics are horrid & not close to normal.

I went in to open both my sinuses & make them larger, they fixed a deviated septum while "in". I had broken my nose 2xs and wasn't aware I had a deviated septum until the surgery was over.

I have to say I had a fantastic surgeon that is so progressive gauze isn't even used...(that is considered "old school" & a high risk for infection).
I had to sleep on my back in an upright position for about a week. Hardly any swelling & mild bleeding post-op. My stitches dissolved.
Easiest surgery I ever had.

 

[minkydog]

DS14 had this done about 7 years ago when he went through about 9 months of continuous sinus infection and ear infections. Turned out the nasal bridge had collapsed and the turbinate(inside the sinus) was completely blocking one sinus and partially blocking the other. No wonder he couldn't get well!

The surgery was very easy. DS didn't look ANYTHING like Aisling's son. Other than a little puffy nose, you wouldn't have guessed he had had surgery, no packing or anything. DS has issues with anesthesia, so that complicated things for him. Usually it's an outpatient surgery but he ended up staying over night because he couldn't wake up (he slept straight through to morning, about 18 hours) Since the surgery DS has had maaaybee 4 sinus infections and no ear infections. He bounced back pretty quickly, back in school in 2-3 days with tylenol for pain. Easy-peasy.