Deviated nasal septum is a common condition in otolaryngology and, as the name implies, is a deviation of the nasal septum that is not properly aligned. It is believed that many patients with nasal disorders are found to have a deviated nasal septum during a physical examination by an otolaryngologist, and some patients’ doctors also recommend surgery.
“What? I have a deviated septum? Why didn’t I know it when I was this big?” “Why have I always had a deviated septum when I didn’t have any discomfort in my nose before?” “Do I have to have surgery for a deviated septum?” Similar questions are often asked by many patients who first learn that they have a deviated septum.
To determine whether a deviated septum requires surgery, we must clarify the concept of deviated septum and its hazards, and then determine the pros and cons of surgery.
Most of the clinical deviations of nasal septum are congenital deviations, while a few are caused by external forces such as acquired trauma and tumor compression. It must be clear that the deviated septum is only morphologically deviated, and the following symptoms must be combined before further treatment is needed.
1. Nasal congestion. Due to the deviation of the nasal septum, resulting in bilateral nasal asymmetry, the nasal septum projection side narrow, the other side is too wide, which will cause asymmetric airflow on both sides of the nasal cavity, the wide side of the nasal cavity turbinate mucosa doubled work, in the long run formed chronic rhinitis. Nasal congestion is often evident on the protruding side first, and later, because of secondary chronic rhinitis, bilateral nasal congestion is evident.
2, nasal bleeding. Because of the rich distribution of blood vessels at the front of the nasal septum, the surface tension of the mucosa is higher after the formation of the curved surface, so it is easy to rupture and bleed in dry climate or after digging the nose, and generally the convex side is easier to bleed than the concave side.
3.Headache. The septum deviation can often compress and stimulate the turbinates of the lateral wall of the nasal cavity, causing congestion, edema, inflammation and other lesions, stimulating the submucosal nerve endings, causing reflex headache, especially the high deviation of the septum compressing the middle turbinate, blocking the sinus opening, headache and sinusitis, often heavier on one side, sometimes accompanied by loss of smell.
In addition, deviated septum can also cause long-term nasal airflow asymmetry after deviation, secondary to chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, nasal polyps and other nasal diseases or aggravate the symptoms of the above diseases; a few patients also have a deviated septum resulting in a skewed nose and then affect the aesthetics.
After understanding the causes of nasal septal deviation and its main impact on health, I will give you a brief summary of the cases of nasal septal deviation that require surgery as follows: 1, combined with nasal congestion, nasal bleeding, headache and other typical symptoms, conservative treatment is not effective.
2, is the cause of rhinitis, sinusitis, nasal polyps and other diseases or surgery seriously affect the main surgeon for surgical operations, need to first septum correction to facilitate the smooth operation of the main surgery.
3, affect the appearance, or nasal deformity correction as the nose pillar structure need to be corrected at the same time to improve the correction effect.
In short, not as long as the deviation must be done septum correction surgery, must have both deviation, symptoms, personal desire for surgery, conservative treatment effect is not good when considering surgery.