Septoplasty

When your septum (the thin wall that separates your nasal passages) is off-center or displaced to one side, you may experience breathing issues or suffer from sleep apnea. Your nose may also appear crooked. A septoplasty is very low-risk outpatient surgery that straightens a deviated septum.

Is your deviated septum giving you breathing problems?

A deviated septum can cause a wide range of complaints including obstruction of the nostrils, noisy breathing or snoring and even facial pains or headaches. While these symptoms may sound relatively mild, they can significantly affect the quality of your life and your happiness, and you don’t have to live with them. You can temporarily treat symptoms with decongestants and nasal steroid sprays, but a septoplasty will provide you with lasting results.

The surgery could help you achieve the following desirable results:

Improved breathing
Better sleep quality
Fewer infections
Decreased snoring
A straighter and more aesthetically pleasing nose

OverviewWhy undergo septoplasty?

Our board-certified plastic surgeons at Austin Plastic Surgery Institute perform medically necessary nose surgeries to correct a deviated septum. A nasal septum is an important structure within the nose, as it is the thick band of fibrous tissue and bone that separates the two nasal passages, as well as supporting the nose and its airflow.

A deviated septum is a medical nose condition that occurs when this bone or cartilage, or both, are not straight, thus constricting the natural airflow. It can also result in a nose appearance that looks unnatural or imperfect. Many patients who are diagnosed with a deviated septum suffer from sleep apnea and snoring. Septoplasty by our APSI plastic surgeons straightens the nasal septum, resulting in an alleviation of these symptoms, as well as a more cosmetically appealing nose.

What sets Austin Plastic Surgery Institute apart?

At the Austin Plastic Surgery Institute, we aim to treat you as if you were family. We are hands-on and personally involved in every step of your journey. All our surgeons are board-certified, and we are known for being warm, welcoming and caring. We are always just a text or a phone call away. With any surgery, it is important to choose your surgeon wisely. This is even more true for any procedure that treats the face, as the features are delicate and very visible. You want to make sure your results will be perfect.

Surgical technique

Septoplasty surgery is performed through an incision made inside the nostril. The tissue covering the septum is lifted and separated so that a clear view of the inside of the nose can be achieved and the bone and cartilage assessed. During the procedure, the deviated structures are removed or reshaped to correct the issue, while at the same time preserving the shape of the nose. The incision is closed with sutures.

As part of the post-operative preparation, your surgeon will likely place a splint or soft plastic sheets inside your nose to help reduce scar tissue and to help align the septum as it heals. Nose packing may be used in some cases to control bleeding.

Septoplasty FAQs

What if I only have breathing issues?

Some patients will choose to have septoplasty to help alleviate symptoms of a deviated septum. However, you might like the look of their nose and thus be worried that surgery will change this. While this surgery does aim to correct medical problems, it can alter the appearance of the nose just slightly, depending on how much cartilage is lost or if a graft is used to rebuild a portion of the bone. It is important to go to an experienced nose surgeon so that any visible changes are natural and subtle.

What causes a deviated septum?

Some individuals are born with a deviated septum, and for many, the symptoms worsen as they age. Experts believe that birth trauma is a cause of this condition; trauma later in life such as an injury is also a cause. The majority of the adult population has a deviated septum, but only a small percentage of those adults have symptoms severe enough for surgery.

Plastic surgeon or ENT?

Most ENT surgeons are skilled in performing septoplasty. The key in whether to use an ENT surgeon or a plastic surgeon usually revolves around results regarding physical appearance. Plastic surgeons are specially trained to preserve the look and shape of the nose or change it according to your personal desire. Some plastic surgeons may send their patients to an ENT for the septoplasty, while they focus on rhinoplasty.

It is important to note that if a rhinoplasty surgeon cannot perform septoplasty, you should consider finding a different nose surgeon. The septum plays a critical role in rhinoplasty. A plastic surgeon with distinct nose surgery experience will understand this importance and thus be able to perform the surgery for both function and aesthetics.