Apr
13
2010
Has anyone had somnoplasty surgery for sleep apnea? What were your results?
Posted by: Alan in Obstructive Sleep Apnea, tags: Anyone, Apnea., Results, Sleep, somnoplasty, Surgery, Were
I’m thinking about options to fix my sleep apnea.
Thanks
To stuck_in_lodi2008, which surgery was is that you had? With the somnoplasty I was reading about they insert a needle into the tissue and not actually cut it out. Is this what you had done?
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April 13th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
I’ve had this surgery for sleep apnea. My doctor told me that it would be a temporary fix for the problem, and would propably have to be done every couple of years. For as invasive as the surgery was I figured that is a small price to pay in comparision to wearing a CPAP. The surgery was done on Dec. 27 of ‘06, and by New Years Eve I was eating steak and chicken without much pain. I have severe sleep apenea, 79 episodes and hour. After the surgery it droped to I think 30 episodes an hour, but the level of oxygen in my blood did not improve very much. I’ve been told 15 times an hour is considered normal. I wanted to schedule a second proceedure, but instead my insurance company wanted me to see a Sleep Apnea doctor before my Ear Nose and Throat doctor preformed the surgery again. The Sleep doctor told me that with every procedure the chances that it will work get slimmer and opted for me trying the CPAP again. The problem with the surgery is it works by creating scar tissue. Within time the scar tissue will relax and the procedure will have to be done again. There is another one called the pillar method in which the isert polyester fibers into the soft pallet. With the fibers inserted the body continues to create scar tissue so there is no chance of it losening over time. I have yet to really look into that one though. All and all I think it did help, but I have it so bad that even some of the benifit I got was not enough.