How Do You Fix A Deviated Septum?

A deviated septum develops when the thin wall (nasal septum) between your nasal passages shifts to one side. Due to this misalignment, people often experience one nasal passage being smaller than the other. 

Patients suffering from a significantly deviated septum can find one side of the nose is obstructed, resulting in decreased airflow, and making breathing difficult. When a deviated septum is exposed to the drying effects of airflow through the nose, it can occasionally cause crusting or bleeding in some individuals.

The main cause of a deviated septum is due to typical development, this is when the septum expands along with the nose as it grows, occasionally moving to one side.

A deviated septum may result from an injury to the nose. Sporting events, slips and falls, car crashes, or getting hit in the nose can all result in nasal injuries. Additionally, a deviated septum may be congenital, or present from birth. The irregularity could be the result of a challenging birth or a connective tissue disorder.

Most septal displacements go unnoticed, and you might not even be aware that your septum is deviated. However, certain septal deformities may result in the following symptoms:

• Dry mouth and throat due to only being comfortable breathing through your mouth.
• Nosebleeds. Your nasal septum's surface could dry out, which would make nosebleeds more likely.
• Facial discomfort. There is some disagreement about whether or not a nasal problem could be the cause of facial pain. However, a significantly deviated septum, in which surfaces inside the nose touch and exert pressure, may be the source of one-sided facial pain.
• Blocked nostrils. Breathing via the nostril(s) may be challenging due to a deviated septum. When you have a cold or allergies, which can make your nasal passages enlarge and constrict, your nasal passage might shrink further. 
• Pressure or congestion in your nose, even when you are feeling well, which could feel stuffy or compress your airways.
• Awareness of the nasal cycle. The nose naturally alternates between being blocked on one side and then being blocked on the other—due to the nasal cycle.  Being acutely aware of the nasal cycle is unusual and may point to a nasal obstruction.
• Snoring or noisy breathing. One of the various causes of noisy breathing or snoring whilst you sleep may be a deviated septum or an enlargement of the tissues in your nose.
• Preference for sleeping on a certain side. If one nasal tube is restricted, some people might prefer to sleep on a specific side to improve nighttime nasal breathing.

A functional rhinoplasty, in which the nose is reshaped to promote airflow and drainage, can correct a deviated septum. Typically, during surgery, your doctor may trim, reposition, and replace either cartilage, bone, or both to straighten the nasal septum. The beauty of rhinoplasty is that each patient's needs may be carefully considered when designing the procedure to fit them.

While it is most frequently done for cosmetic reasons (and can even be performed with dermal filles for the nose to improve aesthetic appeal), a rhinoplasty can also be done to improve function by addressing breathing problems and assisting in the relief of sleep apnoea and snoring symptoms. In these situations, a septoplasty or submucosal resection, also known as an operation on the septum or turbinate that is restricting the airway, is likely to be performed as well.

A deviated septum is not something that will simply go away on its own, so while some people have such a mild form of nasal septum misalignment that they are unaware of it, others with noticeable symptoms may want to look into permanent treatment options if they don't wish to live with the pain and discomfort.

Some symptoms, such as swelling within the lining of the nostrils, can be treated with over-the-counter medications. This does not treat the deviated septum itself, but one of the symptoms it causes. As aforementioned, if your quality of life isn’t being impacted, it is not always necessary to undergo surgery to correct your septum.

However, patients with a more severe deviated septum may, over the course of their lifetime, also develop regular sinus infections. Chronic sinus infections cause nasal passages to become inflamed and irritated over time, which increases the risk of developing more severe infections.

Sleep apnea, a sleep disorder, can also result from an untreated deviated septum. This is where a person momentarily stops breathing while sleeping at night. The most prevalent kind of sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea, occurs when an obstruction in the airway reduces oxygen flow, which also can be caused by a deviated septum. 

These two conditions alone can drastically affect your quality of life, so if you find that you are being impacted to the point of disturbed sleep or regular infections, you may benefit from surgery to correct this. For more less severe cases, it may be that you are suitable for non-surgical ultrasonic rhinoplasty, though your surgeon will discuss the possibility of this with you.

You can usually ignore a deviated septum if it doesn't impair your ability to breathe or cause frequent sinus infections. However, you may want to think about surgery if your deviated septum closes one or both nostrils, making it difficult or impossible to breathe through your nose. It is less invasive than a cosmetic rhinoplasty, so your nose's swelling and healing should be simple to manage between you and your surgeon.