Rhinoplasty, or a "nose job," is generally a cosmetic procedure. However, under certain circumstances, rhinoplasty can actually make your ability to breathe better. The following three examples show how rhinoplasty can improve your ability to breathe and therefore may be deemed medically necessary for insurance purposes.
Correcting a Severely Deviated Septum
If you have a severely deviated septum (the band of cartilage that separates your two nasal passages), then rhinoplasty corrects this problem. Your surgeon cuts the septum free of its current position, files down any bone structure that causes your nose to bend to one side, and reattaches the septum in a straighter position. Your nasal passages are packed with gauze for a few days until swelling can go down and the healing septum will remain in the position that your surgeon stitched it. The result is the ability to breathe more clearly, inhale more deeply and your face is more symmetrical than ever before.
Enlarging and Opening Flattened Nasal Passages and Flattened Nasal Bridges
Some ethnicities, simply due to their biological bone structure, have flattened nasal bridges and flattened nasal passages. This is completely normal and most people breathe just fine with this bone structure. However, if you find that you have a lot of difficulty breathing at night or when you have a cold because you have flattened nasal passages or a flattened nasal bridge, then a rhinoplasty procedure that enlarges and opens up your nasal passages can help. Nasal implants help elevate the bridge of the nose, while a different set of implants elevates and rounds out the nasal passages. After post-surgery swelling is reduced, you should find that you can breathe easier and that colds and upper respiratory issues occur less often and/or with less discomfort.
Removing Nasal Polyps
Enlarged nasal polyps, especially those that provide a very noticeable bump or shape to your nose, can be excised during rhinoplasty. After these polyps are removed, they are often sent to be tested for cancer, but are usually benign. In the meantime, your surgeon will correct any deformities previously caused by the enlarging polyps and seal off blood vessels that fed the stalks of these polyps so that new ones cannot grow in place of the old ones.
Some nasal polyps can grow so large that it makes it impossible to breathe. You may feel as though you are congested on one or both sides of your nose all the time. When you are actually congested, the polyps become squished in between, in front of, or in back of the swollen nasal passages, thereby blocking any chance of breathing through your nose. Removing them may fall under rhinoplasty, but removing them definitely allows you to breathe much easier.
For more information, contact professionals like William M. Parell, MD, PSC.
Share8 July 2016
When was the last time you went to an optometrist? If you are like most people, you only go when your glasses break or you run out of contact lenses. Very few people actually follow the guidelines of having their eyes checked each year. Not sure why it is necessary to visit your optometrist each year? You can learn all about the different exams and tests that your optometrist runs and why they are done. Knowing what can go wrong with your eyes and what can be done if the ailments are detected early could help to encourage you to get to the optometrist more often.
