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SURGERY
Surgery should always be a
last resort in your effort to stop snoring.
Being invasive there is
always the chance of post complications and pain. While in the
short term it may reduce the sound of snoring it will not help
underlying Obstructive Sleep Apnea symptoms.
There are several surgical
procedures available for snorers.
Uvulopalathopharyngoplasty
involves removing excess throat tissues such as tonsils and parts
of the soft palate to expand the airway. There is also
laser-assisted uvuloplatoplasty (LAUP), which uses a laser to
remove part of the uvula and palate.
More than one session may
be needed with LAUP.
Another relatively new
surgical procedure, somnoplasty, shrinks excess tissue via very low
levels of radiofrequency energy. The tissue is then naturally
reabsorbed by the body. Performed under local anesthesia in less
than 10 minutes, somnoplasty is designed to minimize the bleeding
and pain associated with other techniques.
An even newer type of
procedure using radiofrequency energy is called
coblation-channeling. Unlike somnoplasty and others which heats or
shrinks tissue, coblation-channeling clears blocked airways by both
shrinking and removing tissue.
Doctors can also inject
sclerosing liquid into soft palate tissue to cause irritation and
scarring. This tightens the soft palate, making it less likely to
rub against the tongue or tonsils and cause snoring.
If snoring stems from the
nose, nasal surgery to remove obstructions in the nose or to
correct a deviated septum may also help you stop
snoring.
"The drawback is that
although in the short term (surgical procedures) may be very
effective, overtime, most people are snoring again,"
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