I had it done a few years ago; the fact that I've forgotten how long I was down is probably a good sign. On a basic level, though, you're seriously concerned about a temporary inconvenience vs. long term relief?

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Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

Thus my last statement regarding slapping me silly. On a more serious note, I guess I'm still searching for some indication on whether it's actually long term relief, a short term remedy which will require additional surgery down the road, or just a crap shoot. There is such a wide range of testimonials available, I'm not sure which way to turn.

Hello
I ve done the septoplastie this winter (broken nose).
I ran 30' the day after surgery.

In fact you can t swim until the plastic thing in your nose (i m french don t know the name in english) will be remove -10 days generally-.
But as far as you don t bleed you can do the other sports

The septum surgery is 'relatively' easy. You'll be uncomfortable but, depending on the severity of the deviation, you could be back to work pretty fast. The turbinectomy was the thing that killed me. I won't go in to all the disgusting details on here, but feel free to email me and I can give you my take on the whole experience/recovery process (greg@triby3.com). The short answer to your question though- I had the surgery the second week in January this year and was fully back to training 4-5 weeks later. And by fully, I mean 100%. I was able to do some light cycling and running before that

I had the exact thing done in Jul on a Monday, I was riding and running by the weekend.

I did wait a couple weeks before I jumped in the dirty lakes around here though.

Had it done (both) in January 13. I was back in the gym 4 weeks later. Initial recovery was THE SUCK. One solid week of mysery. They don't tell you how bad it's going to be because I think you would not do it. Took a full 6-9 months for all the residual stuff to fully settle (some of the nerves in the roof of my mouth took a long time to stop tingling). Nothing earth shattering, just a little annoying.

On the plus side, my breathing is WAY better. I immediately saw improvements in all my training. Just more air going in. No more sleepless nights, no more lasting sinus infections. Seriously knocked 12 min off my sprint times (1:30 to 1:40 - longer sprint - 20 mile bike and 700m swim) and I attribute most of that gain just to the ease of breathing. One small hick-up is this I get a LOT of water in my nasal passages when I swim, if I'm not blowing hard out my nose. Just so much room now that the water flows more easily.

So in summary, it was more of a hassle than I thought at first but 9 mos removed, I am VERY happy I did it.

P.S. Buy Neilmed sinus irrigation pack from Costco. Works wonders to clear every thing out post surgery. Still use it every night before bed and I have no drainage/stuffiness issues, even in allergy season.

Peace!

Get it done. It's worth it in the long haul.

I had septoplasty & turbinate reduction a few years ago. My issue was chronic sinusitis, never on CPAP, but it still was a shitty quality of life.

Initial recovery was pretty rough, but that's 1-2 weeks. The initial removal of packing was an experience I will never forget.

Was a bit nasally & tender to cold for a few months, but was back to training after only a few weeks.

Swimming took longer to get back to obviously, but I think that was only about 6-8 weeks.

Looking back, it was definitely a good surgery to elect, turns out breathing is nice.

Best. Thing. I. Ever. Did.

I had the septoplasy, and turbinate reduction, and at the same time, I had my tonsils removed. When I was 30. I should have done this when I was 16.

You will most likely be off the bike a full month. BUT, because you'll be getting better sleep, and you'll breathe easier on the bike, you'll probably come back faster than ever. I know that my running and performance vastly improved after the surgery. In fact, I'm thinking about doing it again, since turbinates can grow back after a decade or so.

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Punching cockroaches from day 1.

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http://www.tri-junkie.com/

I'm an ENT, so I perform this surgery regularly. There's no easy answer as to how long your recovery will be. There are quite a few variables, mainly the severity of the deviation. For my motivated athletic patients, I usually tell them to lay off everything for the first week, then begin to ramp things back up the second week and see how it goes (mainly Z2). If you re-introduce high intensity work too soon, you could increase your risk of bleeding while things are still healing. So a reasonable approach would be to plan low intensity work during the second week, and reassess how you feel daily. If things are going well, you could gradually get back to your regular routine. What I've learned over the years, is that every patient recovers differently...and every ENT will give you a different answer as to post surgical activity restriction. If you give yourself that first week to rest, then listen to your body and use good judgement afterward, you should be fine.

You should be specific with your doctor about your activity level and your training goals. He/she has a lot more knowledge about what needs to be done in your nose, and should be able to tailor your recovery plan based on that specific knowledge. When I perform this surgery on athletes who want to get back to training, we have a much different conversation than with my "couch potato" patients.

I'm assuming you've established care with a good ENT. If not, seek out one that has an athletic background. I've had a number of patients come to me because they had seen me at the local 10k or sprint tri, and made the connection. Good luck, and feel free to ask questions.

My patients return to full activity after 14 days. You risk severe epistaxis if you push it before this. Stents x 1 week. There are some things you can do post-operatively to make recovery easier. pm me if you decide to have the surgery and I can give you some advice.

Not that I need to add to a Dr.'s assessment, even if I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express, but I did have mine done by an ENT who is an athlete. All American collegiate athlete and she and her husband (Ortho surgeon) both do Tri's now. Def. helped convince me (gains to be had), and worked with me through my recovery when I was freaking out. Sloughing turbinates can be an especially troubling moment at 5:00 a.m., in the dark, getting ready for a run, when you think you just blew brain matter out your nose. :o) So this is really good advice if you can find such an ENT. Really helped me get back into my routine safely and without massive nose bleeds and the requisite visits to repair damage.

If someone develops a restraining device that does NOT feel like a 6" aero bottle straw jammed up into your eye sockets, that person is going to make this procedure much more pleasant. Will also make them a LOAD of money.

On a side note, the "second opinion" doc I saw was doing a clinical study on a balloon procedure to open the nasal passages and he said it was a 15 min procedure and you'd be back at work in an hour. He did it to most of his staff over lunch and they finished the work day. My ins. would not cover clinical trials so the cost of the balloon was way more than my deductible for out patient surgery so I decide on the traditional approach. Sounded like a possible future option if I even need to have to corrected. Any opinion on that procedure?

Thank you for replying. I certainly value the input of someone who actually performs these procedures. As its 'base' building time anyway, all of my training can be low intensity for a few weeks. I just don't want to NOT train at all. I can deal with 7-10 days of nothing, then getting back to really low intensity stuff. I know recovery is going to suck. But it's going to suck whether I'm sitting on a couch or sitting on my trainer. :-)

I really need to give it a go. I'm just really concerned about missed work, feeling like crap, not being able to be active for a long period of time, the surgery not working, still being the same afterward, etc, etc, etc.

Looks like a few physicians commenting. As a patient who had a tough history of sinus issues, it was indeed 2 weeks of rest and recovery for me with a ramp back of working out. Every case is probably a little different but I wouldn't count on jumping right back in.

Some w/ issues like polyps (which can grow back) may need future corrective surgeries apparently, but those are much less invasive if things are done properly the first time.

It was totally worth it for me.

Good luck.

J

I had the procedure done about 2 years ago and, like others have mentioned, it was a great decision. I still remember the first ride I did after the surgery and I could feel air going up my nose when I wasn't even breathing. I had similar sensations/problems swimming, with water going up my nose.

I know I didn't have any stints put in, which was awesome, because I heard that was the worst part. After about a day I felt fine (pain wise), other than when they cleaned out my nose a couple times a week. I remember running and cycling about a week or so after at a light to moderate pace.

Do it. Sleeping through the night, especially after drinking, makes a huge difference!

Are the stints for the septoplasty or the turbinate reduction? I'm thinking of having the reduction done and being able to breath again. My ENT said my septum wasn't too bad but my turbinates are huge and it always feels like I have a stuffed nose

Stents are typically used after septoplasty. Several different ways to treat turbinate hypertrophy. Medically and surgically. Have you taken nasal steroid therapy for greater than 6 consecutive weeks before ?

I tried, I got one of the sniffer things but I really wasn't a fan. I think after my "A" race next weekend I might try it again and see if it helps but it make my head feel funny. Does that go away?

Depends on what your sniffing jamgam :)
Topical antihistamines can be used intermittently for short periods of time when symptomatic (astepro, patanase).
Steroid sprays (Flonase/Nasonex etc.) need to be used daily for longer treatment periods and help to prevent symptoms from occurring.

Everybody's different and I heard tons of stories before I had my surgery. For me it was life changing for the better. Way better sleep, not worrying about choking on dry food, etc. I had no pain, but was quite miserable for the first week. The stints in the nose restrict quite a few facial movements and they'll feel really weird. Once they were out I felt like a new man. I was told not to exercise for 4 weeks and I followed that advice. Not worth trading 4 weeks of fitness for health complications.

Fluticasone Propionate is the stuff which according to google is Flonase

I would give it a chance. Use it everyday for a month and see how you feel. Steroids are pretty effective. Problem is with getting people to remember to use them daily. I bet it will help.

I'm also an otolaryngologist (ENT), so would echo the comments made by my colleagues. Usually, but not always, splints are used post-operatively to assist in the healing of the septum and preventing blood or fluid from accumulating between the septal flaps. Studies have shown that routine use of stenting is not always needed, so I use splints on a case by case basis. Patients are more comfortable without splints, but they have a bit more septal mucosal swelling that take a little longer to heal. I let patients exercise one week after surgery and gradually increase intensity as they see fit. You might need to wait a little bit longer to start your Cross Fit. I would just find time to do the surgery in the beginning of your offseason and take a week off. You'll be glad you did it. It will improve the quality of your life, sleep, and make your CPAP easier to use. Good luck.

\

Fixed that for ya! :-D


Seriously, though, I really appreciate the input by the ENTs in this thread. You guys are awesome. I'm really needing to get a good list of items I'll need to stock for recovery. I've read that saline solutions are crucial. Anything else that will be beneficial in my recovery process? I'll likely be alone for most of the recovery, so going out and buying stuff will not be my first priority. I want to get everything well before I have the procedure.

Funny story. A friend of mine is a Masters state road race champion and has been a team physician for both a Continental and ProTour team part time. I often ask him training advice. I asked him what he was going to do in the offseason. Cross Fit! BTW he's is his late forties, FTP of 325, and weighs 140.
Saline spray or irrigations work well. I find the Neil Med sinus rinse kit easiest to use. If you have the splints, I have patients clean the front of the tubes with a Qtip moistened with hydrogen peroxide to clean any dried blood or mucous to keep them from getting obstructed. Usually there is little pain, and most patients need little or no narcotic pain meds.

Scheduled surgery for next Thursday. I'm nervous! I will ask my ENT as well, but any supplies I should be buying to prepare for recovery?

Thanks again for all of you guys' advice!

Painkillers. All of them. Lots of them.

They'll possibly give you one as part of the package, but the large sinus rinse squeezy bottles that you can fill with warm salt water and irrigate with can provide enormous relief.

Here is my protocol for patients:
Grocery list: nasal saline spray bottle (ex ocean), alkalol if you can find it(not alcohol, add to your saline rinse 1/4), peroxide and Q-tips(mix 1/2 strength solution of peroxide and use Q--tips to dissolve any blood clots/crust in your nasal vestibule (so you can clearly see end of stents), afrin nasal spray or equivalent (oxymetazalone) to use if you start to have any significant bleeding. I Rx antibiotics, Percocet and bactroban ointment. Most patients use pain meds for 1-2 days. Apply ointment after you clean your nose twice a day. These measures should make your recovery easier. Good luck.

I had that surgery. Wasn't a big deal at all. I refused the offer of vicodin, and had mild discomfort the first night on Tylenol. Basically no discomfort the next day. Worked out the 2nd day (against orders). Was up to full tilt boggie by the 3rd day.

I had this done 1 yr ago. Buy a neti pot, & get ready to waterboard yourself to dislodge the packing. Really not that bad of a procedure, i think the painkillers help you sleep more than nothing else. Having to sleep upright was the worst part. I was back on the bike in 3 weeks, in the pool after a month.

Updated OP. Had the surgery yesterday.

I have chronic sinusitis, a blocked right sinus and a deviated septum. It's been recommended I have a septoplasty and a turbinectomy. I would like to hear from anyone who has had this surgery to tell me how it went and if it helped. My main question is whether or not the surgery alters how your nose appears on the outside...in other words....does it make it look straighter? I see it's crooked in photos and I want to know if the septoplasty will help that. Thanks!

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Septoplasty

I'm about 3 months past surgery now. Overall, I have to say the surgery was a success and fairly simple process. The only thing I truly hated was the last two days with the splints up my nose. Other than that, recovery was not bad at all. I have noticed that I'm consistently sleeping better and my breathing has improved dramatically. I'd do it again in a heartbeat for the results I've seen.

As to changing appearance of your nose: no, the surgery will not change the appearance of your nose.

Question to those who have had the surgery...

I had it about 16 days ago..first couple days were miserable, smell/taste were gone for about 10 days, beginning to feel normal at about 2 weeks.

I've tried working out a bit (just lower heart rate stuff) and my nose gets pretty stuffy. I end up breathing out of my mouth within 30'. Any experience like this?

Did you have sinus surgery as well as nasal surgery ? Re-mucosalization of the sinuses (healing a new layer of sinus lining) can take a few weeks if you had extensive work done there. I would recommend keeping up with saline washes to clear any crusting or debris in your nose and allow a little more time for healing.

Thanks for the reply. Had both septoplasty and turbinate reduction. I'm keeping up with the sinus rinses, which do help.

ENT said everything looked good and I have a check up soon. Could working out too soon do any damage? He said it won't bleed; it hasn't since the second day after surgery.

You should be good. Out of typical window for any complications and it sounds like you had limited nasal airway work done.

I just googled recovery for septoplasty and found this forum. I'm happy to read so many athletes have been helped by this surgery since this is one of my primary goals. I've been told that it will help a lot with performance, which only makes sense. Better oxygen and better sleep = better performance.

I have struggled with the same problem for years but always too afraid to have the surgery, since it is considered "elective". I finally did it Wednesday and I'm still miserable. I am looking forward to all the benefits described but the two or three weeks recovery is hard to cope with.

My doc only told me to use saline spray 2x day; no washes. Would that help the recovery? I can't breathe through my nose at all and blowing hurts with those splints. I do have a neti pot. At this point, I can only fantasize sleeping well and breathing better!

pain meds: Will they slow recovery? I am not in pain anymore but incredibly frustrated that I can't breathe or sleep yet and I'm bored. I wish I could knock myself out until I'm good to get back to swimming and cycling.

Just take it easy. Take some of your pain medicine if the stents are making you feel uncomfortable. The day you get them out will be a game changer. Mind the advice not to resume training for two weeks and then ease back in. Last thing you want to happen is to have a post-op nose bleed and end up packed again in the ER!

Had a septoplasty and turbinate reduction surgery done last Friday. Pain has been moderate. No packing, but did have splints which I had removed yesterday on day 5 (can't believe how big those pieces of plastic are!). I definitely think my ENT did not prepare me properly for the post-surgery regime. They gave me a bottle of Afrin and Mupirocin ointment to use. No mention of saline irrigation until yesterday's appointment.

Pain has been minimal (only took 2 Oxycodone to sleep day and night of surgery). I've been experiencing significant congestion (can't breathe through either nostril with any consistency) and I'm still bleeding - more light, bloody dribbles than anything. I recognize I probably didn't follow the instructions to a T (did some work around the house, no ice packs, bent over on occasion and blew nose lightly on a few occasions).

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions for eliminating the bleeding or at what point I need to be concerned by it. At what point does the congestion disappear? Feels like I have a terrible head cold. Nothing is sexier to go around my house or sitting in my office with Kleenex stuck up my nostrils!

Thanks.

Not to trump your docs orders, but here is what I would advise....
1. Go ahead and use the afrin 2 sprays/nostril q8hrs for 2-3days - its a vasoconstrictor so will help with bleeding and congestion
2. There is a nasal wash called alkalol (not alcohol, that would burn like hell) that has been around for ages and is available over the counter. Can mix 25-50% with your saline solution and use twice daily as nasal wash. Think it will help with your healing.
3. Time heals


RG

I had the surgery on March 13th and from what I can tell, major congestion with the inability to breathe through the nose is normal and will clear up as the days pass. Until my splints were taken out, I felt like I was drowning in snot with all the drainage I had.

I developed a major headache and nausea after the splints were taken out (day 6 for me) which was the worst part of my recovery, but my congestion improved dramatically over the next few days and now that the headache has decreased to just a minor annoyance, I feel basically back to normal.

You should be doing saline rinses several times a day - try the NeilMed bottle and saline packets. That has been the thing I think has helped my recovery the most.

I would be concerned that you're still bleeding. I don't think you should be dribbling at all at this point but that's my non-MD opinion based on my own recovery.

Hi just found this forum and signed up ..happy I did! I had septoplasty and turbinate reduction last Saturday and the worst part of the recovery is that I m stuck indoors while the sun is shining and it s amazing spring weather outside and most of my runner friends are doing hill drills and getting ready for the peak of the race season here ..can t wait to get out !! I did the op because I always had trouble breathing. I never could really breathe from my nose without feeling tiered doing so. During long easy runs I m fine but when I m pushing up a hill or during races I always end up huffing and panting and my chest feels like it s about to explode plus I suffer from side stitches a lot and I ve been doing so much research on the topic and finally came to the conclusion that if I had to be able to breathe properly from my nose and breathe right in to my diaphragm not to my chest it would help minimize the stitches I suffer from constantly and that always slow me down terribly. I suffer from short breaths and have periods of not being able to breathe at night when I feel like I m choking ..but I would not have done the surgery for the latter it was only the fact I believed ( I hope I was right ) it would improve my running that I decided to go for the surgery. It is now Tuesday evening and over 72 hrs since I had the surgery.I still can t breathe from my nose. And it looks swollen and not pretty at all but I didn t have rhinoplasty even though many friends suggested I could once I was doing septoplasty but I quite like my nose ..its not pretty but it s fine . Suits me so I don t care. I just want to be able to breathe properly from both nostrils and feel the air go in thru my nose and I want to have less sinus headaches and congestion which basically has made me miss so many training sessions and leaves me feeling miserable. What I m really concerned about is how everyone keeps saying they had lots of goo and yucky crap come out of their nose and all I have is watery snot and a bit of blood. I feel no pain but I do feel discomfort. I breathe entirely from my mouth and it s constantly dry and last night I rolled over and woke up with huge pain cos I used to sleep face down before the op so I must have just turned to my natural position during my sleep. I never took a single pain killer after the surgery just panadol for the headache but then the doc said better not take those cos my blood pressure was extremely low ( I fainted three times in one day at the hospital - I was discharged the day after the surgery) and apparently paracetamol lowers blood pressure - didn t know that . I did know my blood pressure is very very low though. I faint often,
I m seeing my surgeon on thursday and I hope the nurses will flush my nose cos I m only using this saline solution like four times even more a day but it s not working much. I hope I can resume running gently soon or I ll go mad if I don 't !! Can anyone tell me how long before I can resume training properly ? How long till the nose resumes it s original shape ..I look like french bulldog right now :)

oh poor you how I feel your pain . I had no splints put in just gauze which was taken out the day after the surgery. Still can t breathe. I don t use a neti pot or whatever it is !! I m only using saline solution and I make my own hot water with sea salt and clean my nostrils around the outside with it cos they are full of dry mucus and feel so uncomfortable. I can t wait to start training again. The eve before the surgery I was doing a speed session on the track > I left when the lights went out and I was so happy..tiered and happy. I want that feeling again !!! But everyone here is saying the op helped with their breathing so I m keeping my fingers crossed it will be the same for me !! Wish you a speedy recovery :)

Headed for my surgery on Friday. Ready to get breathing better! Not looking forward to pain but want to feel/breathe better in the long run.

Good luck. It really was not bad. The splints were miserable the last day and a half. Other than that, not too bad. Breathing is nice. And being able to sleep well, train hard, recover (see: sleep well), and do it over again has been nice! :-)

Looking forward to the breathing out of both sides of my nose!
John

Surgery was postponed until this Friday. Hoping it is not too bad....

The only appropriate thing to do sitting in pre op this am was to check out Stwitch right? Sometimes you simply need to go to a happy place.

Thanks for this thread, my attitude improved heading into the OR. More air immediately. Unbelievable.

I'm glad I found this forum. It's really reassuring to hear so many fellow triathletes have been through this and are better for it.

I've been told I need to get this done -- both septoplasty and turbinate reduction. I'm aware there are different methods of doing this though, in particular turbinate reduction.

Can I ask you guys, did everyone here have a mucosal resection with a microdebrider? I hear that's probably the safest and most effective method nowadays. That's compared to more classic mucosal resection with a scalpel, and other shorter-lasting and more outdated methods such as laser, radiofrequency, diathermy etc.

I've met with 2 seperate ENT's in my local city here in Melbourne, Australia and one suggested an old school procedure -- completely cutting out my turbinates with a scalpel, while the other was adament I only needed a partial removal again using a scalpel.

These methods as I understand are turbinectomy's rather than submucosal resection. I've read that they can lead to a condition called empty nose syndrome which concerns me.

Apparently this is because they remove or damage what they call the mucosa, which has the function of "feeling" the air going through the nose and triggering numerous important respiratory responses.

The older methods I've been offered damage this mucosa, whereas submucosal resection does not. Problem is, I cant find anyone who does submucosal resection with a microdebrider here.

If anyone knows of a good doc in Melbourne or Australia I'd be forever grateful!

Hi. You could try Brent Uren, who specialises in Rhinology/ Nasal Surgery and works in Frankston. I'd steer you away from 'Dr Google' and towards finding a Surgeon you can trust, and then taking his advice for the surgery.
Good luck!

My recovery took about 2 months to feel good and 3 months to feel great. I did get an infection at the incision site early on and that set back my recovery by 2 weeks or so. Also I took a very long time to hear according to my surgeon. But now I am on the other side and I can breathe better so it was worth getting it. Just a much tougher recovery than expected.

Thanks Snotman1! Do you have any experience with him?



Glad your feeling better. Any idea which method your doc used?

The septoplasty was done by peeling back the entire septum and removing a bone spur and the reattaching the septum. Doc said it was probably 30 passes with a needle to stitch it up. He used a debrider on the turbinates to cut those down a bit. This was his description to me so it could be more technical that this.