My symptoms were that the left side of my nose was almost always blocked, and I breathed through the right side of my nose. So mainly during seasonal changes, if my right nostril got blocked, I had to mouth-breathe, so I would go to the hospital, but they always said it was rhinitis and gave me antihistamines, which had no effect at all. It just opened up once the cold got better. Sprays didn’t change anything either. Then a local ENT told me to do septal surgery. I’m scared of surgery and couldn’t fully trust it, so first I went to a nearby university hospital for an appointment. Then the professor said it wasn’t a septal problem, but that my nose needed nasal valve surgery, and that it was surprising I hadn’t been mouth-breathing all this time. He said it seemed okay now because I was thin. From then on it started feeling serious, so with information I got from the rhinitis gallery and within my circumstances, I went to see about three well-known doctors who were possible for me. ㄷㅌㅈ-ㅈㅎㄹ, ㅇㅅ-ㅈㅇㅈ, ㅅㄱㅂㅂㅇ-name forgotten But since they all looked at the CT, their opinions were similar. They said my nasal condition wasn’t good, I didn’t have allergies, and the biggest problem was the deviated nose, so surgery would be good. But the university hospitals all seemed to have the mindset that if the patient is uncomfortable, then it’s surgery. So after thinking about it, I got annoyed that sometimes I couldn’t sleep when my right nostril got blocked, and I thought surgery should be done at a university hospital, so I booked surgery with Dr. ㅈㅇㅈ at ㅇㅅ Hospital. During that decision-making process, since nasal valve surgery is treated almost like semi-cosmetic surgery, I read a lot of posts in the rhinitis gallery and empty nose syndrome cafe, and especially I think I read all the surgery-related posts in the rhinitis gallery. There were many stories about side effects and many terrifying stories, but after weighing the pros and cons, I just went for it. And about 3 weeks before surgery, I had pre-anesthesia tests, allergy testing (no reaction at all), and a nasal airway resistance test. Actually, when Dr. ㅈㅇㅈ first looked at my endoscopy and CT, he said septal surgery alone would be enough. But after seeing the airway test, he added nasal valve surgery.. Not doing nasal valve surgery had been one of the reasons I chose him, but what can I do if the professor says it’s necessary lol So today I had general anesthesia (had a COVID test the day before), and the surgery ended around 7. Before the surgery, I was seriously so scared and tense that my pulse hit 110, and when I went into the operating room and they took my temperature, it came out as 38 degrees lol So all the medical staff were surprised. Fortunately, once I calmed down a bit (if I got sent back then it would be super annoying), they measured again and it was okay, so we proceeded. It wasn’t the anesthetic gas that was the issue; they said “we’re putting in propofol,” and 3 seconds later I was unconscious, and when I woke up I was in the recovery room. After doing it once, it actually feels more doable than I thought lol
It’s still early, so my nose is a bit swollen. I’ll write an additional review as it improves.
I tried to write in detail so it got long, but I hope it helps even one person in a similar situationㅎ
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