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The crooked nasal septum can not only disfigure. Sometimes – although imperceptible to the naked eye – it is conducive to stroke and heart attack.
– It happens that for many years the crooked nasal septum does not make our life difficult, but after XNUMX it changes, because then our nose begins to age – says the otolaryngologist Michał Wątróbski.
How the nose ages
Dr. Wątróbski explains that with age, the interior of our nose begins to lose its elasticity as a result of the collagen fibers slackening. If a XNUMX-year-old is healthy, he doesn’t notice these processes. But if he has a crooked septum, he suffers more often from a runny nose that turns into sinusitis, he starts snoring at night, and worst of all, he has moments of apnea while sleeping. – In the upright position, the facial muscles are tense and we do not feel any discomfort, but when we sleep they go limp and the nasal mucosa collapses – explains the ENT specialist.
The effects of sleep apnea
If you have several apnea during the night, the oxygen level in your blood drops and the oxygen level rises. In a healthy person, oxygen saturation in arterial blood is about 96%. When climbing in the Himalayas, it drops to, for example, 50%. Meanwhile, in a patient with sleep apnea, it may be 30 percent. This is a huge burden on the heart. And it can lead to the development of hypertension, arrhythmias, and even a heart attack or stroke.
How to check if the nasal septum is straight
If we suspect that we have a curved septum, we can put a mirror under the nose and blow air through the nose. If the blowout pattern from both holes is not the same, you may suspect that the baffle is slanted. However, it is best to go to an ENT specialist who will check it with special instruments.
Curvature of the nasal septum
The nasal septum is about 2-3 millimeters of cartilage and bone tissue that symmetrically divides our nose into two parts. In young children, it is all cartilage, but from the age of 4 it ossifies and only the tip of the nose remains cartilage. The curvature of the septum occurs most often as a result of childhood injuries. Minor cartilage damage – healing and then ossifying – thickens. The partition thickened in this way can be up to 8 mm in places. In some people, the curves of the nose are visible to the naked eye.
Nasal septum straightening procedure
Indications for the surgery of nasal septum are difficulty breathing through the nose, recurrent diseases of the paranasal sinuses, recurrent nosebleeds, cosmetic reasons in cases of visible curvature. – The procedure to straighten the septum is quite complicated, because the curvature includes, apart from the godparents, also the rear part of the septum, which is made of bone tissue – says Dr. Wątróbski.
The benefits of straightening the septum
– If the curves are visible on the outside, it is best that a plastic surgeon who will take care of the external appearance of the nose is also involved in the operation outside the laryngologist – the rhinosurgical specialist – advises Dr. Wątróbski. On average, the procedure takes about an hour and a half. The patient should be in the clinic for at least a day. Such an operation can be performed under general or local anesthesia. After that, you need to wear a stiffening dressing in the nose for a few days. The first two nights are the worst because the nose is swollen and you can only breathe through your mouth. – Patients, however, are satisfied after the postoperative wounds have healed. They sleep better, suffer less from sinuses, breathe comfortably, and often look prettier, says the doctor.
Text: Halina Pilonis