What is the job of the nose?
The nose is used to prepare the air we breathe for the lungs. It is important to filter out dust and pathogens, and to warm and humidify the air. Without this treatment of the breathing air, there are problems in the ears, throat, larynx and the deep airways.
What are the consequences of obstructed nasal breathing?
The most common complaints are obstruction to breathing through the nose and loss of smell. A permanent cold with or without purulent, i.e. green-yellow nasal secretion is often reported. We always look for the underlying causes first, e.g. E.g. allergies. Every avoidable operation means an unnecessary risk for the patient. Only if treatment with medication has not brought about the desired success will we advise you to have an operation.
In some patients, further examinations lead to the diagnosis of a deviated nasal septum, which is said to divide the two halves of the nose into roughly equal spaces. Other patients have chronic inflammation in their paranasal sinuses (NSH). In both cases, often only an operation can help. Our goal is to operate on the cause of the symptoms and not just the consequences, because we wish ourselves and our patients lasting success. We therefore only rarely carry out isolated interventions on the cavernous bodies of the nose. Nose surgery is no fun, so we want to be the last, if not always the first, to operate on your nose.
Operations on the nasal septum and the NNH are often necessary to enable breathing through the nose again. After operations on the NNH, it is necessary to take care of them for several weeks in order to allow the disease to heal. We carry out follow-up care after an operation on the NNH for at least one year, but mostly for two years. We try to detect a recurrence of the inflammation early on and then use medication to cure the disease at an early stage.
The nose is an organ that is very well supplied with blood, and even tiny injuries can lead to severe nosebleeds. Accordingly, after an operation we have to ensure that there is no bleeding or bruising of the nasal septum. Both could destroy the whole success of the operation. The nose is usually packed for two days after the operation. This is to prevent bleeding and bruising. However, it is very uncomfortable because the nose is stuffed up and because the constant pressure causes pain that needs to be treated with painkillers. Many patients also complain of insomnia because they cannot sleep well with their mouth open. Such complaints can be significantly reduced by modern procedures. These gentle procedures result in fewer wound surfaces, so that tamponade can be dispensed with. In NNH operations, we insert sponge-like medication carriers that are soaked with haemostatic medication. At the same time, the follow-up treatment is much more pleasant because old blood and wound secretions do not have to be suctioned out as often after the operation. The operation can then be performed on an outpatient basis. We save you and your cost bearer an inpatient stay. However, these procedures are associated with greater effort and additional costs for us. We have to bill you for this because it is not covered by statutory health insurance and in certain cases (aid) by private health insurance. Of course, we inform you about this in detail before each operation.
Video endoscopic technology with HD video systems is now the standard in NNH surgery. The now very good results of operations on the NNH only apply to this type of surgery. You should not feel satisfied by less. In the last 20 years, navigation systems have been developed for surgery, which have now reached a high level of precision. In the NNH, they make even gentler and at the same time more thorough operations possible. There are still no large studies that prove that this technique has advantages for patients in our field. However, it has never been a disadvantage for the patient if the surgeon had a better overview of the surgical area. The NNH are an extremely confusing surgical area with very important and vulnerable structures in the immediate vicinity.
There are various reasons why a patient falls ill again after an operation with NNH. In half of these cases, the first operation was not extensive enough. In these cases, inflamed tissue was left at critical or poorly accessible sites, from which the disease begins again. Every second follow-up operation could therefore be avoided through the consistent, comprehensive use of intraoperative navigation. We therefore offer this technique to every patient who is to be operated on by us on the NNH. Unfortunately, the costs are not covered by the health insurance companies and only by some private health insurance companies. For detailed examinations and further information, we are at your disposal personally during our consultation hours.