Septoplasty: Stories

I could not have had a better experience with Dr. M. Throughout my entire life I have had a horrible time breathing through my nose, especially at night when trying to sleep. The cause of this is a severely deviated septum that blocks almost all airflow on one side of my nose. This led to an 18 year addiction to Afrin, which at one point I was using every couple hours. While I managed to quite Afrin at the beginning of this year, absolutely no medication was able to help me breathe.

I finally decided to take it to the next level and consider a Septoplasty, and I heard from multiple sources that Dr. M was the best surgeon for this in the bay. I was a little apprehensive at first since I had a challenging nose for a septoplasty (and you can make yourself paranoid reading about all of the risks and surgeries gone wrong), but Dr. M and his team was always able to put me at ease.

On the day of the surgery everything went flawless. Every person that I spoke to at Standford that day from the receptionist to the nurse that discharged me was friendly, competent, and positive. I woke up from the surgery with absolutely no pain or side effects from the anesthesia that was used. The crazy thing is I could breathe through my nose immediately after the surgery. I didn't even realize that I had stints until I got home. While there was some pain during that week after surgery, it was nothing like what I was expecting or read about.

Now for the best part. After getting my stints removed, I was able to breath better than at any point in my life (including when I was medicated with Afrin). As a true testament to Dr. M's work, 2 months after the surgery I came down with a cold and I was STILL able to breathe out of my nose and sleep at night. My only regret is not doing this surgery sooner. Dr. M really changed my life. Even my most optimistic expectations were exceeded!