Having a blocked nose is very common. A blocked nose causes you to have problems with breathing through your nose either all the time or only at night. It is also common that a blocked nose changes from side to side. You may also notice that your nostril collapses on one side and may find yourself stretching that side of your cheek against the pillow at night to improve your breathing.
Causes of a blocked nose
There are many causes of a blocked nose including:
- The way your nose has grown.
- Age (Age causes drooping of the nose which causes a blocked nose).
- Previously breaking your nose.
- Previous nasal surgery.
- Sinusitis.
- Nasal polyps.
- Previous skin cancer excision.
- Allergy (Allergic rhinitis).
Blocked noses can also be much worse if you have to wear a CPAP mask.
Treatment of a blocked nose
Almost all of the causes of a blocked nose can be treated or improved. To determine what the cause of your blocked nose is you will need to be seen by Dr Robinson. He may recommend a rhinoplasty for treatment of a blocked nose.
The procedure is different for everyone but in general involved the following steps:
- Septoplasty (Straighten cartilage in middle of nose).
- Cartilage harvest for grafting.
- Turbinoplasty (reducing scrolls of tissue inside nose).
- Structural cartilage grafting to nose to support septum.
- Structural tip cartilage grafting to fix drooping nose.
- Structural cartilage grafting to side walls of nose.
Over 30% of the patients that Dr Dan Robinson has operated on have previously had an operation on their nose which was not successful. Out of a total of over 700 rhinplasties more than 200 patients had previous had surgery with another surgeon. In these instances Dr Dan Robinson utilises a rib graft functional rhinoplasty to improve the breathing through the nose. When Dr Dan Robinson audited his own results he has found that over 97% of patients had an improvement in the breathing through their nose, regardless of whether they were revisions or not. This data was presented at the Australian ENT Society meeting in 2014.
To discuss fixing a blocked nose, please make an appointment with Dr Robinson.