What is a Septal Perforation?

One of the surgeries that requires greater work is the closing of a septal perforation.

A septal perforation is an orifice in the septum that consequently communicates both nostrils and will cause bad breathing.

What causes a spetal perforation?

A septal perforation can be an effect of a previous trauma that evolved badly; it could be a result of a bad prior nasal surgery, excessive and frequent nasal scratching, or also due to substance abuse, such as cocaine or nasal vasoconstrictors.

What are the symptoms of septal perforation?

The symptom that the patients most usually complain about is usually a noise when breathing, such as a whistle, although it can be combined with bad breathing, bleeding, formation of scabs, and in more advanced cases, an external deformity of the nose due to a lack of support given by the septum.

Does it need a very specialized surgeon?

To be able to treat a septal perforation with guarantees of success, the surgeon should be greatly specialized in nasal surgery. Not all ear nose and throat specialists, nor plastic surgeons, have the adequate training to offer guarantees to the patient.

How is a septal perforation closed?

Dr Paulo Andres Escobar is a specialist in septal perforation closure in Bogota, Colombia. He uses a technique that is based on closing the orifice using a suture in the nasal mucous membrane, restituting the lost nasal cartilage with cartilage taken from ear cartilage and the temporal fascia, which will guarantee an adequate vascularization of the graft. This way we can manage to close perforations of up to 2.5 cm in diameter.

At the same time, this surgery can be combined with a primary or secondary rhinoplasty, or with a septoplasty, without any problem.

But keep in mind that the success of the surgery decreases as the size of the perforation increases (in the case of cocaine addiction, for example, it is also recommended for the patient to be detoxed to increase the possibilities of success).

After the surgery

Nasal packaging is not necessary after the intervention, instead, some 1-mm silicone sheets in each nostril to facilitate an adequate scar formation. These sheets are removed 14 days later, and the nasal mucous membrane will have healed correctly.

Of course your contribution as a patient after the surgery, following the surgeon's recommendations, will be of vital importance for everything to work correctly and to obtain successful results. Habits such as smoking are not recommended after the surgery.