Sinus surgery experience?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Apparently my sinuses are a mess - deviated septum, polyps and some blockage that didn’t respond to antibiotics. My allergy doctor and the ENT he referred me to both recommend FESS (functional endoscopic sinus surgery).

I’ve found a couple of threads about sinus surgery experiences but I’m interested in hearing more. Was it worth the pain for you? How long did you take time off work? How long before you were comfortable going on a long airline flight? How long before you could speak and sing normally? (I’m in an amateur barbershop quartet so that’s a big concern.) Any other advice, esp. questions I should ask at the pre-op consultation?

2

At one time I was considering sinus surgery but I was too scared. Too close to my frontal lobe.

3

I’ve had both my maxillary sinuses “removed” (not sure the proper term - obviously the cavity is still there, but they went in and removed the contents), each surgery being about a decade apart.

In both cases they went through the upper gum. Surgery was performed as an outpatient in the second event. I was high-functioning the day after, but I believe it was 2-3 days before they removed the packing left inside (funny story: I actually swallowed some of the packing, and felt like I nearly choked to death (whether I was that close or not I honestly don’t know)). I did not notice any difference in my voice, and no one is interested in my singing.

Long-term post-op, I regained feeling in my upper gum/teeth after about 6 months (they cut some nerves on the way up); for the second op, about 7 years ago, I never fully regained feeling in the upper-center-left side teeth/gum area.

All that said: I would do it again, if by some miracle I develop a third maxillary sinus (or if something again blocks one of what’s left of mine), and do so without hesitation.

Obviously, IANAD, and some of my descriptions may lack a certain accuracy from a physician’s standpoint.

4

I had my septum fixed, turbinates reduced and a nose job. Best thing I ever did. I didn’t realize how bad I was until I did it. I was having chronic sinus headaches and at least one or two sinus infections per year.

I was never able to breathe through my nose prior to the surgery (even when healthy), now I can breathe through my nose. I had outpatient surgery on Wednesday, went back to work on Monday. I could have easily went back earlier if needed.

I had some bruising under both eyes, no packing in the nose, just sutures and the splint that itched like hell. Pain was not that bad, I used 2.5 percosets total. One after the Fentanyl from the surgery wore off, one later that night, half the next day, half the next night. The itching was much, much more bothersome than pain. Not being able to blow my nose for two weeks was interesting.

I don’t sing, I didn’t notice any voice changes.

I had broken my nose 6 months prior to the surgery and it left a nice bump and was slightly crooked after the break. I was planning on doing the septoplasty and turbinate reduction anyway, but the break made me add the full on rhinoplasty to the mix. I think because I knew how much it hurt when I broke my nose, I was ready for the pain, so it didn’t bother me so much.

FWIW, I flew less than a week after I broke my nose and had no issues.

5

I had surgery on my sinuses and to correct a deviated septum last February. My left sphenoid sinus wasn’t draining (the turbinate was almost completely closed) and was a giant ball of infection that antibiotics couldn’t touch, and I felt feverish and run down all the time.

These were my experiences, yucky parts and all.

I was off work for a week which was what the doctor reccommended, and it was about 5 days before I felt back to normal. The pain was never any worse than a bad sinus headache, but I would get tired easily. The doctor gave me Tylenol 3 but I only used them once or twice.

After the surgery, your nose will be 100%, completely, totally, utterly blocked. That means you have to breathe through your mouth so your tongue will feel like a loofah, your lips and cheeks will stick to your teeth, and you will be talgig lige dis for a few days until the packing jammed up your nostrils breaks down on its own or gets removed by the doctor. I had the dissolving packing, which came loose after about 3 days.

Since your nose will be blocked, your ears won’t be able to equalize pressure and will pop annoyingly every time you swallow until, again, the packing is gone.

Once the packing was out of there I could speak pretty normally, though I’d get sort of snuffly and nasal from the drainage . My singing voice is just as bad as it was before the surgery :cool: and I haven’t been on a plane trip so I can’t speak to those. I did get a bonus in that I don’t snore anymore.

The aftercare wasn’t fun because of the type of infection I had. I was having to go back weekly until almost May for the fun and excitement of “decrusting” so that a new infection couldn’t get going under the scabs, which would heal over it and land me right back where I started. I had to use a nasal rinse bottle to squirt antibiotic solution in there 4 times a day (yay).

Was it worth it? Oh hell yes. From my late teens on I was getting at least 2 sinus infections a year and plenty more days of headaches, congestion, and feeling like shit. The year before the surgery was basically one chronic infection that nothing would budge.

Since last February I haven’t had one infection, and while I still get congestion and headaches sometimes they’re orders of magnitude less than what they used to be. Since I can breathe more easily I sleep better, don’t get winded as easily when doing yardwork or other heavy work, and my seasonal allergies didn’t seem as bad (although that varies from year to year anyway.)

6

I had a deviated septum repaired about 10 years ago, because it was blocking sinus drainage on the right side and I’d get a sinus infection every couple of months. Unfortunately, the repair didn’t last and I’m perpetually congested on the right. I’m not going to try it again unless the sinus infections come back. So far I still get them, but only one or two a year.

The worst part of the surgery, for me, was having those tampons stuffed up my nose for days afterwards. They were jammed in there so good that the nurse had to brace her foot against the table as she tugged them out. Not a pleasant memory.

7

Sinus surgery changed my life. Polyp issues, turbinate issues, deviated septum, infections, you name it. I had so much stuff impacted in my sinuses it was like rancid peanut butter that never came out.

I had the surgery early in my college career. Prior to that I went *years *without ever being able to breath through my nose. And rancid sinuses affect the breath so I was always self conscious about deep kissing a girl (plus, how can you do that if you can’t breathe through your nose?)

It was a miserable experience that was immediately ameliorated via the surgery. I don’t remember the exact procedure, but I remember the packing and the salt water sniffing.

For the past 25 years or so, the most trouble I have is needing to take the occasional steroid spray (like Flonase) and a run of prednisone every so often. (I still have the seasonal allergies but not nearly as bad). And because the drainage is fixed, I’ve not had a single infection since the surgery. I can breath through my nose–it’s a whole new world.

8

I had an old procedure called a coldwell-Luc where they went in between the upper lip and gum an did all manner of reconstruction, drilled holes etc. I was out of work for a week.

They sucked out a 40 year accumulation of old snot and misery and discomfort. A 100% success after 30 years. Some newer faster outpatient procedures don’t seem to get the same praise.

9

I’m thinking about looking into this because I think I have a deviated septum (left nostril always stuffy, breathe through my mouth when I sleep) but i’m scared of infection/pain/recovery.

10

My experience was pretty similar to divemaster’s. Lots of polyps and chronic infections, which led to a less than pleasant personality. The recovery was excruciating, but the results were worth every miserable second.

The bad part was getting the packing removed. My surgery was around 25 years ago, however, and I believe that they now use a dissolvable gel. Don’t remember too much about recovery time I’m afraid.

The change in my life was more dramatic than I expected. My stamina and general health improved quite a bit, and I was rid of a constant low grade headache that I rarely noticed until it was gone. The removal of my symptoms also led to a much less grim outlook on life. Granted, my doctor said I was one of the more worse cases he had operated on.

11

This exact surgery changed my life about 10 years ago now.

I suffered from terrible headaches most of my life. I also had TMJ, and when a new dentist diagnosed it based on the damage and wear on my teeth, a night guard altered how my headaches manifest. Off to the specialist.

Had it done is a Children’s hospital, day surgery. Nothing too unpleasant during recovery. Headaches? Gone! Sinus infections? No more! Sinusitis? Gone completely!

Wish I’d done it years earlier.

12

Thank you all for the responses! I’m definitely feeling more positive about it after reading these. Though it does sound like I should wait till after the upcoming 1-week business trip (rather than 2 weeks before the trip).

13

I’m curious how your TMJ and teeth-grinding relates to your sinus issues? Because I have those issues as well…

14

I honestly believe the clenching was because I was always in sinus discomfort, especially when reclined. I could be wrong, of course.

Once I wore a night splint the headaches shifted to being clearly sinus, which landed me at the specialist. And into surgery after a several tests.

After sinus surgery my life did change. Daily headaches were a thing of the past, just gone. I could breath in a way that’s hard to describe, like my breath was going to the top of my cranium. Literally a breath of fresh air. Awesome.

I saw a pediatric Otolaryngologist, and had my surgery at a children’s hospital as a result. Though it was day surgery I ended up being readmitted and kept over night due to a bad reaction to the pain med. I ended up muddling through with ice packs and extra strength Tylenol, and I was fine.

I found the most challenging part of the recovery was all the follow up appointments. Initially twice a week, then once a week and so on, until it’s once a year. As it was explained to me, it’s a warm environment and the healing needs to be carefully monitored.

(And the waiting room was filled with small children with well, snotty noses, etc. Yikes! I was always careful not to touch anything. And the oldest patient, I think!)

15

After being fed up with breathing through only one nostril at a time - and they switch several times per day, I had my deviated septum fixed and turbinate reduction.

The aftercare was minimal, the pain non-existent - ymmv - and I can breathe freely and cleanly all the time.

Do it. Do it now!

16

I didn’t have FESS, but I did have turbinatectomy / septoplasty - and they may have removed some polyps. On the preop exam they couldn’t tell whether I had any because everything else was so swollen (this was before MRIs/CAT scans were common), and they never mentioned it one way or the other afterward.

Packing: left in place until the next morning. Unfortunately, I was feeling so wretched just out of surgery that though they would have let me go home, I opted to stay the night afterward. “Unfortunately” because the room was miserable, I was sharing with an older woman who had a potty chair right by her bed, there was no bathroom, they ignored repeated requests for pain medication, they left the IV in place when it wasn’t needed, they botched the orders for my regular medication (asthma meds) etc.

I was feeling pretty wonky for a few days afterward. The day I got home, I slept all day (having not slept AT ALL in the hospital). I had a gauze bandage taped under the nose because there was still some bleeding (expected).

The surgery was on a Tuesday or Wednesday and I meant to return to work the next Monday but I may have taken one extra day off. By then, I was still having some residual bleeding but it was minor, I just kept kleenex handy. The followup visit, the doctor did some clot removal which was bizarre, and showed me how to use sterile saline and an irrigator to gently loosen other clots that formed.

The net result is that I can now breathe through my nose - which was something I genuinely did not believe was possible. As in, all my life, between the anatomical issues and allergies, my nose served mainly as an anchor for my glasses. I had heard of people overdosing on Afrin etc, and was completely baffled by this. Seriously.

The downside to this was that of course I was working downtown (Washington DC), and… DC doesn’t smell so good sometimes.

My asthma did improve some because I guess the nose was able to do some air filtering and warming.

Typo Knig had FESS and septoplasty about 8-9 years ago and his experiences were pretty similar in terms of post-op. His surgery was in the afternoon and I felt like they booted him out of the recovery area a bit sooner than they should have - it was a day-only hospital and he was the last patient there. He was feeling pretty crummy for a few days, but was back at work within the week.

17

I had sinus surgery on 10/16/13 for deviated septus, conchi bullosa (both sides) and had bilateral turbinoplasty w/RF, Septoplasty, Endoscopy wiht CB resection, Endoscopy with Partial Ethmoidectomy, Endoscopy with Max Tissue Removal and Balloon Frontal. I am 61 and have suffered for a long time and could not stand it any longer, so I contacted a local ENT surgeon and went in - he got took a CT scan and it showed the damage. I had a continus very, very bad sinus infection ALL last winter and it nearly wore me out physically. I was pretty panicky on the day of the surgery. I registered in with my daughter at 9:15 a.m. went in and got prepped around 11 and had the surgery around 11:30. I woke up in recovery from the general anesthesia around 2:30/2:45 (do not remember a thing) extremely nauseated, vomited a bit, they gave me meds for this, ate applesauce, crackers and a little water. The surgery center personnel were wonderful. I got to leave around 4ish and went home and went to bed. I could only sleep off and on for a 15 minute or so time period - this was the worst part. I had two gigantic splents in my nose. I bled quite alot - had a bit of major bleeding 10/17 evening and again on 10/20. I felt alot of panic due to head pressure and not being able to sleep, even sitting up, and my nose made alot of squishing noises when I did some irrigation - I “snored” and woke myself up every 15 minutes … sigh … I felt wonderful the day right after surgery, but the next 3 days were hell … I could eat soups, drink vitamin water and gator aid with a straw. My mouth felt extremely dry and raw as I could only breathe through my mouth. I did not have much pain, did not have a sore throat (other than when I woke up in recovery). I went back to the ENT surgeon on 10/21, and he took splents out - did not hurt, just uncomfortable. When he took the splent out on the left side, 2 yards of bloody mucous came out with it - disgusting, but I got instant relief. I quite taking the Vicodin that day. I went back to my desk job on 10/22/13, but by the end of the first day, I had fallen out of my chair as I was shaky and my legs were like rubber. I go home, eat a bowl of soup, do irrigation, and go to bed! I am still feeling that way today, 10/23. I am religiously doing the sinus irrigations - unbelievable amount of clots, etc. coming out. I am still very “stuffy” and can only breathe a little bit out of my nose. It’s a rough healing process, but I am looking forward to the benefits that will come in one to four months!

18

ALSO - I almost forgot to mention I had “no” swelling (asked for a steroid) and no bruising whatsoever.

19

Is that basically the symptom for deviated septum? Because I haven’t been able to sleep on my right hand side for many years, because I can’t breathe through my left nostril. The weird thing is though, if I take my hand and ‘pull’ the left side of my face back, I can then breathe through that nostril.

But it’s always the left nostril, never the right. I don’t get a lot of sinus infections, so I’m not sure if this is considered ‘bad enough’ to get surgery on!

20

Wow. I had my day surgery 1/2/14 at 8:30 am after literally decades of chronic sinus infections/sinusitis. Either they did an awful lot of things I didn’t realize they were going to do (I knew they were shortening the turbinates, widening the sinus passages on both sides to improve drainage, (mostly the right sides which were horribly narrow), and scraping years of crud out of the bottom of that right maxillary…or I am the world’s biggest sissy, because until she pulled those two sponges 24 hours after surgery at her office, even Percocet wasn’t cutting it. She had Rx’d me one every 4 hours and it wasn’t touching the pain, which from the moment I woke up I described to the attending nurses as a combo of the worst migraine I ever had + the feeling that all my upper teeth were abscessed + a good shot of pepper spray up my nose.

By 5am the next morning, I had completely given up and went ahead and took 2 of the Percocet. Within thirty minutes, I finally felt like it might be worth living until I could heal. At 8:30am, I was in her office to have the sponges they had placed on each side, up further than you could see by looking (nose tampons she called them, complete with a heavy black thread dangling from each nostril), removed. Before she even touched me, I told her that I had taken two Percocet and that one was just not going to work. I’m not a wimp, really. After having my gall bladder removed I took a single Percocet every 4-6 hours for a day and a half before deciding I didn’t need it anymore. This pain though, maybe because it’s so close to your brain, was more than I could handle. She wrote me an Rx for something else (Vicodin, 2 every 4 hours) before I left, saying maybe it would work better for me, but what I really wish she had done was tell me that once those (GROSS) sponges were out, the pain level would drop by 75-80% in less than 24 hours. I only took 2 once more, when I got home from her office about 10am and went to bed since I had not slept at all the night before. By morning, Percocet was no longer necessary. The horrible headache was gone, the burning was gone. The only lingering problem I’ve had has been the achy teeth. I asked her about it at my first post op yesterday (which went great, no scraping, picking or pulling necessary, just instructions to continue rinsing 6-8 times a day as it was working well for me). She said it probably wouldn’t go away until all the internal swelling was gone. I have been taking one Vicodin at bedtime (impossible to sleep when half your teeth are aching) and one in the morning when I get up as they are pretty ouchy then too. Other than that, everything is A-okay. I just wish I had known that the truly agonizing part would be so brief. I would have doubled up on the Percocet from the get-go and no longer needed them long before I ran out.

Was it worth it? I truly hope so. I finally had the surgery because after spending 7 out of 8 weeks on various antibiotics in Oct and Nov, I still had crud and infection visible on the CAT scan. After 30 years of battling sinus infections that had gotten worse since I retired (instead of better as I expected because I was out of the unavoidable dirt and dust in my work environment), I just couldn’t see them coming up with some magic pill that would finally clear it out, especially after the doc showed me the scans of my sinuses and explained what I was seeing. Just not to take any more antibiotics will be such a blessing. Losing the pressure headaches and that infernal drip will be the icing on the cake. Did it hurt? Yeah, a lot. But not for very long and when compared to all the pain and general malaise caused by constant infections over the years, it will be a more than fair trade. I think I can say at this point, achy teeth and all, I wish I had done this YEARS ago.