Pillar Procedure

For months I have heard Larry North (of North Fitness Centers) push for the Pillar Procedure on radio ads... (http://www.snoringcenter.com/at/pillar-procedure.html)

Recently my FIL went in for a $50 consultation, and 20 minutes later dropped $3,000 for the 40 minute procedure, performed immediately in the same appointment.

This is week 5, he has not had any improvement snoring-wise, and the resulting implants are still a source of annoying pain.

The Snoring Center does not offer a guarantee of its results.

I was interested, having moderate SA myself and annoyingly loud snoring.

BUT $3,000 is a lot of money for effective treatment, and is too much in my book for a crapshoot.

I'm interested in what others have found in research or if you have had the procedure and if you are happy / less-than-happy with the results.

Thanks

It seems that across the pond in 2007, it wasn't considered "NICE" for apnea:

" . . . Your doctor should not offer you this procedure, because there is not enough evidence to say whether it works. . . ."

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:D- ... clnk&gl=us


And it was considered only experimental for simple snoring:

" . . . This procedure should only be used in the context of research. . . ."

http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/IPG240QRG.pdf


BTW,

When is someone gonna teach the Brits (who wrote the info in the above links) how to spell? They can't even spell "apnea" right.

I looked into doing it myself last year. When I couldn't find the legions of happy customers shouting from the rooftops, I decided it must not work. I have heard of very few people for whom it did work. Most have no change. At best, it might help snoring that is not related to apnea.