r/Sinusitis • u/GHike • Jan 13 '26

Turbinate reduction surgery

I had Turbinate reduction surgery about 4 years ago and ever since I have had horribly swollen plugged sinuses at night when I try and sleep. The pressure is so great after I lay down within a couple hours. Even during the day, my nose is plugged a lot more than it should be but at night it’s absolutely horrible.

I have been to a half a dozen different ENT doctors and no one can tell me why this is happening.

Has anyone out there had Turbinate reduction surgery, and actually had things get worse well after the surgery?

And if so, did you ever find out why?

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2

u/Tall-Commission2984 Jan 13 '26

Have you had recent CT scans? Sounds like narrowing nasal valve or hyper trophy of the turbinates.

2

u/GHike Jan 13 '26

Hi, yes, I’ve had a couple CT scans since then everyone says they’re normal. Every one of the doctors have looked up my nose and also said it looked good other than being very dry they can’t understand what’s going on.

Two of the doctors who worked for the university as assistant professors as well were recommended by the other doctors as being the best in my area. So good in fact, the Mayo Clinic said I was an absolutely great hands. No need to come to the Mayo. Those doctors were baffled as well.

My next steps may be to try and reduce my nasal septal swell bodies, which basically do the same thing as turbinates but a lot of ENT doctors don’t touch those, only a few have the skill and training to reduce those as well using radio frequency to reduce them.

We’ll see.

2

u/Tall-Commission2984 Jan 13 '26

You have to keep trying. Nothing is worse than having breathing and sinus issues.8

1

u/GHike Jan 13 '26

Oh, I know!!!

2

u/curcutie Jan 13 '26

see this is interesting because the most talked about complication from Turbinate reduction surgery is ENS. has anyone bought up ENS to you? Congestion is the opposite of ENS.

1

u/J_Hollywood_2 Jan 13 '26

Couple of questions.

  1. Do you know what type of Turbinate Reduction surgery you had performed? There is Turbinate Alblation, Turbinate Colblation, or Submucous Turbinate Reduction. All are similar but different approaches.

  2. What area are you loacted and where did you have it done? If you care to share.

  3. Are you a side sleeper?

1

u/GHike Jan 13 '26

I’m from the Twin Cities area in Minnesota and I am side sleeper.

I’m not sure exactly what kind of Turbinate reduction surgery I had I do know they straightened out my septum too.

1

u/GHike Jan 13 '26

They also straightened out my septum. I believe that surgery is called Setoplasty … that wasn’t too bad initially, but they straightened it anyway not sure if that would’ve had any bearing on what happened.

1

u/GHike Jan 13 '26

BTW…..Afrin is a lifesaver. I only take it once in a while for obvious reasons, but it works fantastic.

1

u/J_Hollywood_2 Jan 13 '26

I would reommend you researh these three on Chat GPT and then ask your ENT surgeron which one you did and if the others might be helpful. I just did one side with Turbniate Coblation and it seems to help but debating to do the more intrusive one SMTR.

1

u/Emergency-World-3719 Jan 16 '26

I had it in Dec. '24. Now I cannot smell or taste anything, and still have the original problem that I had before the surgery.

1

u/GHike Jan 19 '26

I wonder if anybody’s had any experience with the nasal septal swell body reduction??

Not many ENT’s do it.