[T-3.5 Yrs] Turbinectomy and first Surgical thoughts

Early 2006, I went back to the Organon study at Stanford because I had the relationships. I was seen by Dr. Kannan Ramar and the supervising doctor Dr. Jed Black. Some deviations from the previous year, now he sees a deviated nasal septum, enlarged turbinates on both sides, significant retrognatiha, mallampati class III. Interesting to see 2 doctors from the same place cannot make similar observations.

Recommendations was to try Flonase for nasal allergies. More importantly they asked me to consider seeind Dr. Kasey Li for RF ablation with the turbinates to improve CPAP compliance. I went to see Dr. Li for RF turbinectomy. It was pretty much a waste, my turbinates got swollen within no time and my CPAP compliance did not improve.

When I went back to Dr. Black  later that year, he said that I ought to think about surgical options. He thought I might need soft tissue surgery and perhaps also MMA to fix me. During my numerous overnight sleep studies at Stanford, I had become intimate with the staff. Several suggested that Dr. Li or Dr. Riley/Powell were the best. They all seemed to have a slight bias for Dr. Li particularly around children.

I went back to Dr. Li later that year. He took a quick look at me and within no time suggested that I should get an MMA. The thought scared the crap out of time and I literally ran out of the office. Seeing my scared look, he did offer soft tissue surgery as an alternative but warned that there was a high chance of relapse within a few years. He thought that with MMA, the chance of relapse would be much longer (~15 years).

Interestingly enough, the current thought by the docs is that if you advance the jaw by greater than 8 mm, then there has been sleep apnea relapse in less than 10% of patients. Wonder what the truth is!