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Treatment for enlarged inferior turbinates
Turbinectomy
Surgeons used to treat enlarged inferior turbinates by removing them completely in what is called a turbinectomy. Physically, this would resolve the nasal obstruction. Unfortunately, it often caused another problem. Patients who had a turbinectomy often complained that their nose was still blocked and experienced symptoms of nasal obstruction.
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Yet when the physician examined the patient's nasal passages, it was obvious the air flow through the nose was more than adequate. The problem was that the surgeon removed the turbinates and the surface mucous lining with them.
There were no air flow receptors left to communicate to the brain that air was indeed flowing through the nose, and patients perceived that they had an obstructed nose. This "empty nose" syndrome is untreatable and can affect a patient's quality of life significantly. |
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Removing too much turbinate tissue frequently causes other irreversible side effects, such as a very dry, crusty nose that cannot warm or moisten the air effectively. Turbinectomies also have relatively high postoperative bleeding rates of more than 10 percent. (This means that more than 10 percent of turbinectomy patients experienced bleeding severe enough to require re-hospitalization.)
For these reasons, most surgeons no longer perform turbinectomies. < Back
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