Snoring
Surgery
If you are sick and tired of trying all the various tools and techniques for alleviating snoring and are
getting no joy, then you may want to consider having snoring surgery.
Surgery should be treated as a
last resort and should only be considered if all other methods have failed to work for you. You should only
consider palatal surgery if you are positive that your snoring problem originates from the palate as opposed to
from the base of the tongue.
The aim of palatal surgery is to reduce or if possible completely stop the collapsibility of the area around the
throat which is also known as the oropharyngeal segment. Therefore if this is not the root of your snoring problem,
the surgery will not help you combat the problem.
The surgery aims to remove as much of the soft palate as possible. This may involve removing the person’s tonsils
in the process. Surgery also removes the uvula which is the dangling bit of skin that can be seen if you look into
the back of a person’s throat. Some surgeons insist that sleep nasendocopy is undertaken before the surgical
procedure. This involves the patient being sedated so that the surgeon can determine the degree of the obstruction
which is causing problems for the patient. Although the procedure is certainly recommended before surgery, it is
not widely preformed due to the fact that it is time-consuming and costly. Now that you are armed with the facts
you may want to ask your surgeon if he will carry out this pre-surgery procedure, should you elect for surgery.
There are four different procedure which can be carried out: Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty- an operation as described
above carried out under general anesthetic; Laser-assisted uvuloplatoplasty- operation that can be formed under
local or general anesthetic with the use of lasers; palatal stiffening operations-a method of burning rather than
cutting the palate and finally radio-frequency ablation which is an operation designed to shrink rather than remove
the excess tissue in the throat.
Each of these operations is complex and requires a great deal of consultation with your specialist before they can
be considered.
Anti snoring surgery can be a painful experience and requires the person to be in a fit and
healthy state before they even consider having the surgery performed. It is also worth remembering that with
surgery, you may experience some unwanted and unpleasant side-effects which you may not have considered before. It
is always important to receive a thorough consultation and only consider this option after all other avenues have
been exhausted.
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