Surgery For Sleep Disorder

Sleep plays an important role in maintaining good health, and is required to replenish the effects of the wear-and-tear that the body endures during the day.

It has been observed that lab rats deprived of sleep die within two to three weeks, the same duration it takes for death due to starvation.

Sleep deprivation should be seen as a serious disorder, must not be neglected and you should look towards surgery for sleep disorder.

The reasons for sleep disorders may be many, and an accurate diagnosis often takes time. Changes in lifestyle habits, medication or hypnosis are one of the first methods for curing sleep disorder. If these methods fail, the only next option may be surgery.

Surgery is used to rectify sleep apnea and snoring, mostly found to be more effective for snoring.

Sleep apnea is a condition in which the person stops breathing for a few seconds at a time, throughout the night, often due to some block in the air passage.

Sleep apnea and snoring generally occur due to any obstruction in the nasal passage. Hence, the surgery to correct these involves removing the causes for obstruction.

These obstructions may be caused due to enlarged nasal tissues, septum deviation or obstructive sleep apnea. The first two, viz., deviated septum and enlarged nasal tissues, can be successfully treated using surgery.

However, treating obstructive sleep apnea may not be as effective since obstructive sleep apnea can be caused by several reasons.

There are three types of obstructive sleep apnea – central, mixed and obstructive – out of which obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type, and can be cured using surgery by removing the reason for the blockage from the airway.

Surgery is much less effective in the case of central and mixed sleep apnea. Central sleep apnea is a more serious condition than the obstructive sleep apnea. It occurs when the brain temporarily stops sending signals to the muscles that control breathing.

Mixed sleep apnea is a combination of both central and obstructive sleep apnea, and can only be partially corrected by surgery since only the blockage in the nasal passage can be repaired; the way the brain transmits signals to different parts of the body cannot be corrected through surgery.

Types of Surgery for Sleep Disorders:

Surgical methods to correct sleep disorders may vary from simple injection procedures to complex surgery in the nose or throat area to remove obstructions.

1. Septoplasty: The nasal septum is the cartilage wall that separates the two nostrils. Septoplasty is a surgical procedure used to correct defects or deformities of the septum. This surgery is often done together with Turbinectomy for enlarging the nasal cavity.
   
   Septoplasty is an invasive procedure and should be considered only as a last-resort option for sleep disorders that could be life-threatening. The surgery is done under general anesthesia and ideally should take about an hour and a half. Though recovery time is expected to be about a month, up to 80% of the normal the nasal function will be regained within a week.
   
2. Turbinectomy: Turbinectomy is a method to remove excess tissue or bone and create more space in the nasal cavity. This is usually performed in conjunction with Septoplasty, and serves to improve the air movement in the nose. This procedure requires local anesthesia. This procedure also should only be considered as a final option for serious sleep disorders.
   
3. Snoreplasty: When you snore, the areas around the mouth, like the soft palate and the uvula vibrate, making a loud sound. Snoreplasty is the method of injecting a chemical called Sotradecol into these areas, thus tightening them and reducing the effect of snoring. The procedure requires local anesthesia and lasts not more than 15 minutes.
   
   These injections are generally taken three times, with a gap of six to eight weeks between each. These are low-risk injections and have a high success rate.
   
4. Somnoplasty: Somnoplasty is a non-invasive procedure to enlarge the nasal cavity by injecting low-temperature, low-frequency radio waves into the throat. As a result, the tissue of the nose first clots and then gets reabsorbed by the nose causing the nasal cavity to enlarge.
   
   Recovery time for Somnoplasty is about a week, and it has a high success rate.
   

The advantage of these procedures is that, in addition to correcting problems related to sleep apnea and snoring, they also help in curing difficulties like nosebleeds, nasal headache, obstructed airflow, poor sinus drainage etc. 

However, there could also be a few side effects in rare cases, like breathing problems, chronic nasal drainage, dryness or crusting, eye damage, headaches, lengthy, hospitalization, need for allergy treatment, need for more surgery, nosebleeds, permanent hole in septum, permanent numbing of face, palate or teeth, prolonged pain, slow healing, weakened sense of smell or taste.