deviated septum surgery , anyone had it done ? I just have few ???

Who was your surgeon? Where did you have it done?
Did it change the shape of your nose? (some people say it did)
Was is painful?How was the recovery?

IF THIS IS TOO PERSONAL PLEASE FM ME.

Thank you

Message edited 9/26/2009 11:32:08 PM.

Re: deviated septum surgery , anyone had it done ? I just have few ???

Surgeon: Eric Bergson, Bayshore.

Hospital: Good Sam, West Islip

Nose shape: Same, no black eyes no anything. Even 12 hours post surgery, if you didnt know that I just had surgery you couldnt really tell. I was just a little swollen/puffy due to the packing but not that bad. It probably depends how crooked your setpum is if it changes your nose shape.

Pain/recovery: It wasn't too bad. I had deviated septum, sinus reduction and polyp removal all at once. (5 hours of surgery) I was expecting to be curled up in the fetal position crying for days, but it wasn't that bad. I had severe sinus headaches and pain before so this was just more of the same. Once I learned that there was no bending over and no caffiene and to sleep sitting up I was good to go. They will definetly give you splints in your nose to keep it straight while healing - I think those were in for a week/week and a half. Those are a little feeling when they pull those out - don't watch if you're squeemish. I also had 8 inches of packing in each nostril - I have a feeling that was more for the sinus reduction/polyp removal than the deviated septum; maybe you'd have a little of this instead of that much.

One thing that I will say is that I can tell that my nose is different. If I touch it from the sides or rub it, I can tell it's 'off' from natural. It doesnt hurt when I do that, it's just sensitive. Also, I have a small lump on the inside of my nose, near the tip. He said that is the incision point. It doesnt restrict my breathing or anything so it really doesnt matter. He said that those things could take months to feel better, or it may never feel the same. (I am about 6 months post-op now so I am guessing it's not going to get better than this.) I guess its because the bone or cartilidge or whatever was broken and 'put back together' its just sensitive. Even with these changes, I'd still have it done in a second if I needed it. I'd much rather be able to breathe then care if its a little sensitive to the touch.

HTH - let me know if you have more questions.

Re: deviated septum surgery , anyone had it done ? I just have few ???

Thank you so much

Re: deviated septum surgery , anyone had it done ? I just have few ???

DH had the same surgeon as the above poster.

HE HATED THE SURGERY!!!!!!!!!! Since he had it on a Friday, the packing had to stay in all weekend. (The dr said it typically only stays in for a day.) He was in horrible pain til the packing came out. He begged me to let him rip it out himself. Think of two maxi pads shoved up your nose. It's a lot of packing.

I think he would've thought differently about the recovery had the surgery worked. But since it didn't help with his snoring or sleep apnea, he is EXTREMELY BITTER about the surgery. Weird thing is: a friend of our had his a few days before DH (different surgeon) and had the same disaster of an outcome.

You just have to know it doesn't always work.

Re: deviated septum surgery , anyone had it done ? I just have few ???

Really? Wow I'm surprised, I didn't think it was something that 'couldn't work'!

My nasal polyps are back already, only 5 months post-op but I was warned ahead of time that it would most likely happen. Surgeon said that there is a high recurrance and some people are just more suseptible to them. (And I guess I happen to be one of them)

But on the sinus reduction side, I feel much better I havent had a sinus headache yet (knock on wood) and I had one constantly before, to the point where I couldn't function and spent almost every moment that I wasn't at work in bed trying to sleep it off.

For the deviated septum, it's helped me. I don't snore anymore and my husband is greatful.


ETA: The packing, yeah the packing is the worst part. Not sure if you need the packing for just deviated septum and not sinus reduction. I know deviated septum is the splints because my dr told me after the polyps come back if I need to just have polyp removal that 'it wont be so bad because you won't need the deviated septum splints'. I also had surgery Friday so I had to wait until Monday morning to get the packing out. But I couldn't breathe thru my nose for years prior so having the packing up there really didnt bother me. I actually didn't take ANY pain medication until I went to get the packing removed since I heard that was the part that hurt. So I took 2 oxys for that. Besides that I only took 2 regular tylenols for the duration of recovery. I guess it's really dependent on the person and how bad they are before hand so it might make you more tolerant!

Message edited 9/27/2009 6:09:00 PM.