When it comes to improving the breathing in a person, there are about three procedures in the nose that improve the breathing. There are other procedures that, in the back of the throat, can improve the breathing.

But when it comes to difficulty of breathing because of the nasal airway, the culprits could be a deviated septum or a crooked septum, which is the cartilage that separates the two nostrils; or it could be enlarged inferior turbinates, which are the two bones that sit at the back end of the nose that act as the filter of the nose, if you will; but sometimes because of sinus infections or of hay fever or of previous trauma, they can get enlarged to the point that they can block the air passage. So either reducing the inferior turbinates, or straightening out the septum or doing a septoplasty, or the third procedure would be increasing the angle of the breathing of the nose, which requires either spreader flaps or spreader grafts. I'm getting a little technical right now, but basically it means putting a piece of cartilage between the septum and the bone of the nose to increase that airway so the airflow can go in.

So these three procedures, either reducing the inferior turbinates, or doing a septoplasty or doing spreader grafts to improve the air space, all can improve the breathing and thus the snoring of the nose.

There are other procedures in the back of the throat that are beyond the scope of a rhinoplasty discussion that a patient can seek as well. So I would recommend for patients who have breathing to have a full evaluation first to understand what is the cause of the airway obstruction and then decide what makes sense for them.

Can a Rhinoplasty Help With Snoring?

Dr. George Bitar explains that while some snoring issues are related to the throat, others stem from a clogged or narrow passageway in the nose. In detail, Dr. Bitar explains three ways a rhinoplasty can help stifle your snoring.