Will rhinoplasty help sleep apnea


Many of my Houston rhinoplasty patients have issues with breathing through their nose and are heavy mouth breathers at night. They may claim to have snoring issues and their partner may state that they gasp for air or stop breathing. These patients may have sleep apnea. While rhinoplasty truly means changing the shape of the nose, septoplasty or fixing a deviated septum and turbinate reduction for enlarged turbinates is frequently performed at the same time as rhinoplasty. These procedures will improve nasal breathing and snoring but rhinoplasty will not treat sleep apnea.

Now, some of these patients may not have sleep apnea but simply arousals or respiratory disturbance due to snoring. In that case, rhinoplasty will help with their sleep. Some true sleep apnea patients require CPAP and may not tolerate the CPAP mask or the pressure they are on due to a deviated septum or enlarged turbinates. Rhinoplasty with septoplasty, possible valve repair, and turbinate reduction would allow them to tolerate those pressures.

Dr. Funk is a rhinoplasty surgeon in Houston, TX.


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