The Benefits of a Turbinate Reduction

Turbinate hypertrophy is an enlargement of the turbinates. What does all that mean? Really, it’s just a fancy way of saying the cartilage that separates your nostrils is a little larger than it’s supposed to be. While it may not seem like a big deal, that divide is in charge of some pretty important stuff — like cleaning and humidifying the air as you breath. And if it’s too large, it’s probably not doing its job correctly. If you’re considering a turbinate reduction here’s what you should know.

Reasons for a Turbinate Reduction

An enlarged turbinate can cause serious health problems. Most often, people with an enlarged turbinate suffer from:

• Chronic nasal congestion
• Difficulty breathing through their nose
• Recurrent or chronic sinus infections
• Chronic nosebleeds
• Migraine headaches
• Sleep apnea
• Snoring

Turbinate Reduction Options

Depending on the severity of your turbinate, you may require one of three possible procedures:

• Turbinectomy: During a turbinectomy, part or all of the inferior turbinate is removed. For this procedure, the patient would be placed under general anesthesia and a microdebrider would be used to shave the tissue down.

• Turbinoplasty: Instead of removing the turbinate, like in a turbinectomy, a turbinoplasty will reposition the affected bones within your nose.
• Radiofrequency or Laser Ablation: Each procedure is performed slightly different, however both use a form of energy to shrink the turbinate to a healthier size. This procedure is the least invasive of the three.

The Benefits

After a turbinate reduction, patients have been known to breathe easier, sleep better, and experience less frequent respiratory infections.  

If you’re considering a turbinate reduction, make sure to consult the experts at Florida ENT. We can quickly and accurately assess your symptoms and design a treatment plan that is specialized to your needs. To schedule an appoint, give us a call at (877) EAR-NOSE!

How to Properly Care for Piercings

For more than 5,000 years, people have used body piercings for a multitude of reasons, from religious and spiritual, to cosmetic. No matter what the reason, one things remains the same across every country and culture, you have to take care of a piercing properly! Whether you just got your first stud or are well versed in the world of piercings, here are a few ways to make sure your new jewelry doesn’t get infected.

Before the piercing

Before the needle even touches your ear, you could be setting yourself up for a potential infection. Plenty of ear piercing places will use an earring “gun” to pierce your ear. This gun uses a lot of unnecessary pressure to push the piercing through your ear and can cause potential tissue damage. Plus, because it's so bulky, it's difficult to really sterilize. Instead of a gun, request that your piercer uses a sterilized needle.

After the piercing

Now that you have your brand new piercing, it’s incredibly important that you care for it properly — both so that you retain your good health and so that your new piercing looks great! These are a few rules you should be following:

• Turn the earring only when it's wet and sterile.
• Use soap and water or saline solution to clean a piercing. Rubbing alcohol can dry it out and cause it to take longer to heal.
• Wash your hands before you touch or change your piercing.
• Change or wash your bedding every few days. If you got a body piercing, you should wear loose, flowing pajamas to bed so that you don’t run the risk of pulling at it through the night.
• Visit your doctor if you notice something is wrong. If your piercing is bleeding or incredibly sensitive, you may have an infection or other problem that needs to be addressed by a professional.

Florida Ear Nose Throat & Facial Plastic Surgery Center is an otolaryngology/facial plastics practice committed to providing our patients with the highest quality and personal care, as well as most advanced technology by a Harvard trained, double boarded facial plastic, head, and neck surgeon.

How Immunotherapy Can Help Alleviate Allergies

What does having allergies really mean? While yes, we all know it means you probably sneeze or have itchy, watery eyes when you come in contact with an allergen (most commonly an animal or dust). But an allergen is actually an abnormal response of the immune system when you come in contact with a foreign substance. This led researchers to explore the idea of creating a treatment that would work with the immune system to help prevent allergy attacks. Then, in 1981, immunotherapy for allergies were created.

What is immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is the prevention or treatment of a disease with substances that stimulate an immune response. Probably the most common form of immunotherapy comes in the form of vaccines. When you get a vaccine, your doctor injects a small or weakened dose of a virus into your body, so that you can easily fight it and make the antibodies that will prevent you from catching the real virus in the future.

Immunotherapy has been used for years to fight everything from cancer to measles. Now, it can also help treat allergies. Just like a vaccine, “allergy shots” are injected into your body with the thing you are allergic to (pollen, dust mites, mold, or pet dander).

How does immunotherapy work?

At first, you’ll receive a shot once or twice a week for six months. Each week, the dosage will increase slightly. After six months, you’ll only need the treatment once or twice a month. If you respond well to the treatment and are experiencing less symptoms, you will continue getting the shots once a month for the next several years.

Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) vs. Traditional Allergy Injection

Traditional allergy injections are shots that are injected into your body (most typically your arm). Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) places an allergen under your tongue. This method has been shown to reduce a patient’s sensitivity to the allergen. SLIT can also be used to treat airborne and chronic, non-severe food allergies.

If you're suffering from allergies this spring or summer, we encourage you to make an appointment at Florida Ear Nose Throat. We offer the most advanced allergy screening, allergy management, and immunotherapy treatments available. To schedule an appointment, give us a call at (877) EAR-NOSE!