Are There Surgical Treatment Options for Sleep Apnea?

There are definitely surgical options that are available for sleep apnea.

What is chosen to treat any individual patient, of course, depends on what is wrong.

What's the level of obstruction for that patient?

Surgical options for sleep apnea have come a really long way.

Techniques have gotten better so that the nasal surgeries themselves don't bleed as often.

They're easier to tolerate. There are new techniques for managing the sinuses that involve balloons or devices that allow you to more precisely open exactly what's necessary.

There are image guidance techniques, kind of like GPS for the skull when you're operating.

Most of the obstruction is related to the base of the tongue, the tonsils the lymphoid tissue inside the throat.

So the surgeries that are directed to those problems, those have gotten much more technologically savvy.

So those are even easier to tolerate. Which particular technique is utilized is dependent on the surgeon and their evaluation of the airway.

But all of these have a much improved side effect profile and safety profile from even 10 years ago.

Your surgeon and you should have the discussion about what is obstructed so that you can choose the appropriate option for you.