Hello Everyone,

I'm meeting with an ENT specialist (my third) on Tuesday to discuss
surgery for my chronically swollen inferior turbinates. I saw him a
couple of weeks ago and he confirmed via nasal endoscopy and CT scan
that I need the surgery and could also use a straightening of my
septum, even though it isn't terribly crooked. The main symptoms I am
dealing with is the inability to breathe through my nose and
congestion. Rhinocort Aqua and Sudafed has done little to help, as my
turbinates just seem to swell up a little more with each passing day
and block off most of the airway in my nasal passages.

The ENT said that he thinks outfracture with submucous cautery would
be the best procedure for me. I asked about submucous resection and he
thinks that isn't the way to go for me as the bone is not
hypertrophied, only the tissue. I also asked about somnoplasty and he
said he doesn't use it for turbinate reduction because the results are
hit or miss and it is much more expensive than cautery. When I brought
up empty nose syndrome, he said, "Oh. You mean atrophic rhinitis?
There is no need to be concerned about that as I always perform the
surgery submucously."

I would like to know from others who have had submucous cautery done
to their turbinates and how it turned out for them. If there are any
ENT specialists out there who have performed submucous cautery, please
let me know what to expect and if there is a significant risk of
developing ENS and atrophic rhinitis. Also, let me know what questions
I should be asking of my ENT when I speak with him on Tuesday morning.
If there is a big risk of the mucousal lining being permanently
damaged, than I might just ask him to perform the septoplasty and
simple outfracture of the turbinates and forget the cautery. Any
comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.