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Surgical Complications
Complications associated with
inferior turbinate surgery include bleeding, crusting, dryness,
and scarring. If you undergo an inferior turbinate reduction,
your doctor may prescribe a spray or watery solution to relieve
dryness and aid in healing. There is generally less risk of
serious complications today than in the past, when inferior
turbinates were extensively cut out, sometimes causing excessive
crusting and nasal dysfunction.
Submucosal resection of the inferior turbinates
The turbinates consist of bone covered by soft tissue membrane, or mucosa. In this procedure, your surgeon removes the outer part of the soft turbinate tissue and the vertical part of the turbinate bone. The remaining inner part of the turbinate is folded over and dressed for healing. This approach typically reduces the size of the inferior turbinates by about half.
Although this technique is relatively invasive, it's a clear improvement to the partial turbinectomy technique because:
The turbinate tissue that remains is completely covered by the mucosal lining that contains the air flow receptor cells, cilia and secretes mucus
It has a generally lower postoperative bleeding rate
It is particularly preferable in cases where the turbinate bone itself is too large (in addition to the soft turbinate tissue being enlarged - relatively rare)
Improvements to this technique may include the use of the microdebrider for more precise tissue removal and an endoscope for better visualization during surgery.
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on image to view larger
Sometimes this method is also described as a modified endoscopic turbinoplasty.
