A "Cutting" Question

[dkeat]

I am seeing a surgeon soon to find out about my options regarding my narrowed nasal passages.

I am curious to know how nose surgery is handled when general anaesthesia is used. If your nose is butchered, how do they respirate an apnoea patient who is out cold? They can't very well put you on a nasal mask (I hope). So how do they do it? Even a full face mask would cover your nose and might do some damage.

[popcorn machine]

Intibation! (a breathing tube is inserted down your esophogas)

[dkeat]

Mmmmmm. Yum.

[ProfessorSleep]

d, that would be a tube in the trachea. It also is possible to use an airway that does not go completely into the trachea but would hold the oral tissues in proper location for respiration. Under general anesthesia, though, an endotracheal tube is standard.

[yardbird]

You won't necessarily be intubated. I blew out a disc in my neck many years ago and had to have my vertebrae fused. If they bend my neck back like they would do to intubate me...they'll likely hear a *snap!*. So... they don't intubate. I had a severely deviated septum repaired under general anesthetic and was not intubated. They just monitored my O2 and made sure I stayed breathing. You're basically breathing through your mouth at that point becaue they have all kinds of hands in your nose

If you want CPAP after that surgery you are almost surely going to need a full face mask. You won't be able to tolerate pillows and most nasal masks sit on your upper lip WAY too close to your nose.

This is just my opinion. I opted to go CPAPless for a while after surgery.

[dkeat]

Yes. That was also something that I had wondered about. After the surgery I can imagine it would be some time before one would be interested in sticking anything into the nose. But a week or so without CPAP might pose some interesting challenges. Nothing I would look forward to.

[yardbird]

I see cpap.com has an ORAL mask now. Might have had it before but I didn't notice. Nothing on the face really. The "mask" part looks almost like the end of a snorkel. One strap. If your nose has packing you won't be breathing through it. This might be an alternative for after surgery. I can't speak to how well it would work because I obviously haven't tried it. Just looked interesting.

[dkeat]

Yes, that would be the ORACLE mask. I tried it once in the past. As soon as I fell asleep the air would start blowing out my nose. This is the experience of many people, which is why it is sold by the manufacturer with nose plugs. And many who have tried the nose plugs have blown them out their noses and across the room.

You don't want nose plugs after nasal surgery. Probably a FF mask if anything.