Why can't I get an easy breath?

If you have a breathing problem, it can be corrected together with rhinoplasty operation. In other words, septum deviation surgery or concha bullosa surgery can be performed together with rhinoplasty and this operation is called Septorhinoplasty Surgery.

If a patient with a breathing problem undergoes rhinoplasty operation without correcting this functional problem, complaints may increase afterwards and then the patient needs to have an operation again and again. Therefore, patients with septum deviation or concha bullosa should request these problems to be solved together if they undergo rhinoplasty operation.

Septum is the wall that separates the nasal cavity from the middle. The anterior part of the septum is composed of a firm, but bendable cartilage and the posterior part is composed of bone. Ideally, the septum should be on the midline and the right and left nasal cavities should be of equal width. In 80% of people, the septum is not exactly in the midline, and this does not cause any complaints, and often does not cause a health problem. Sometimes the septum is located in a very deviated position from the midline and this is called septum deviation or nose deviation.

The forming mechanisms of nasal deviation show differences. Rarely, some babies are born with septum deviation due to the curved development of the septum in the womb. Sometimes the septum deviates during the passage of the baby through the birth canal. Bumps, falls, sports injuries, traffic accidents in childhood and adulthood can also cause septum deviation. Septum deviations may occur as a result of the development of the bones and cartilage parts of the septum at different rates of growth.

The most common symptom of septum deviation is the difficulty of breathing through the nose. Nasal congestion is usually on the deviated side of the septum, but it may also lead the difficulty of breathing either on both sides or sometimes on the right side and sometimes on the left side.

The treatment of septum deviation is surgical and this surgery is called septoplasty. Nose deviation surgery can be performed separately or together with rhinoplasty operation.

Septoplasty surgery can be performed under both general and local anaesthesia. However, in my personal opinion, aesthetic intervention and septoplasty operation should be performed together and therefore it is not practical and healthy to perform this operation under local anaesthesia. In the operation, the septum is placed in the midline position. During the surgery, the excessively deviated part of the septum is removed, and the correctable parts of the septum are reshaped and replaced. Nasal packing is placed in both nasal cavities to keep the corrected septum in its place at the end of the surgery. This packing is usually removed on the second day following the surgery.

• Your nose will be congested after the surgery because of the nasal packing and you will need to breathe through the mouth.
• Packing will cause nasal secretion to increase, and a pink coloured discharge will be seen both on the edge of the packing and on the nasal passage. This is not bleeding and will continue until the packing is removed, which will gradually decrease after the surgery.
• Be careful not to bump your nose and do not touch it to feel the operated area.
• Use the medications regularly recommended by your doctor.
• After the packing is removed, use the nasal spray regularly if it is recommended by your doctor.
• Do not clean your nose by blowing it until it is allowed by your doctor. You can clean your nose by sniffing mildly after the packing is removed.
• Do not sniff tap water to your nose. You can have a shower if it is not too long and too hot.
• After the operation, nasal dryness and crusting may occur in the nose. In order to reduce these, breathe through the nose in front of a bowl of boiled water once in 2-3 hours during the first days and 3-4 times a day on the following days after the operation.
• Complete recovery inside the nose fulfils in 2-6 weeks. During this period, Apply the dressing and take the controls recommended by your doctor.
• There are centres that determine the development of facial bones in the nasal septum. Surgical treatment of septum derivations, determined in childhood, is usually not performed before the age of 17 to prevent these centres and bone development of the face to be disrupted. Growth centres in adults are inactive and septoplasty operations have no negative effect on the shape of the face.

If the septum is re-displaced during the healing phase within a few months following the septoplasty operation, or after a new nasal trauma, a second correction may be required; the need for a second operation is very rare and occurs in less than 2% of the patients who have undergone the surgery.