Laser Surgery for Snoring Treatment
When snoring becomes a problem, it can keep the person with difficulty breathing from having a restful sleep as well as those around him. It can also be dangerous. Sleep apnea is associated with more serious health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke. But more than half of all adults experience the condition and there are ways to treat it.
Changing one's lifestyle and diet are the easiest ways to go about finding relief. By losing weight, the snoring may subside or sto altogether. Drinking less alcohol, especially close to bedtime is another easy fix. It may be helpful for the person snoring to try sleeping on their side for better breathing. Sometimes, though, the only way to help serious snoring is with surgery.
The doctor or she will also ask your sleeping partner about your habits so as to gain a broader picture of your snoring problem.Typically a doctor will send a patient to a specialist in the area of ear, nose and throat problems or to a sleep specialist to find out the root of the problem. With a sleep specialist, the patient spends the night and is studied while he or she sleeps.
Snoring and Sleep Apnea
The word "apnea" comes from the Greek language and means "without breath." When a person's breathing is frequently interrupted during sleep, this is known as sleep apnea. There are several kinds of the condition, one in which the muscles in the throat relax, called obstructive sleep apnea, which is the most common type. People suffering from this may awake in the middle of the night to find they have trouble breathing. People may wake up with a dry throat and mouth or even sore throat. As they sleep, the tissue at the back of the throat collapse and closes, cutting off air.
A person with sleep apnea may find themselves tired during the day, as they are not getting a sound sleep at night. Typically, the person awakes momentarily to readjust breathing about 30 times per night. If you wake yourself up while sleeping due to lack of ability to breathe, or if a sleeping partner comments on your loud snoring, you may be suffering from the condition.
Another type of sleep apnea is known as central sleep apnea, which is when the brain fails to signal the breathing muscles while you sleep. Similarly, the symptoms are the same, as the person snores, wakes up tired and feeling out of breath. The main reasons behind this condition is heart disease or stroke. Unlike obstructive sleep apnea, with this kind, the person remembers waking up.
One other type of this condition is called complex sleep apnea. which is a combination of both obstructive and central sleep apnea. More serious perhaps than the two previously mentioned types, this kind of sleep apnea means that the sufferer has heart-related issue and an obstruction in the throat. So blood is now flowing properly and the brain fails to notify the body to breathe regularly.
Corrective Surgery for Snoring
When some of the other treatments for minor snoring issues do not help, a doctor may suggest surgery. There are different types, including UPPP or uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. Known as LAUP for short, laser-assisted uvula palatoplasty uses a laser to remove some of the tissue that vibrates when you snore. This procedure involves removing tissue from the top of the throat and back of the mouth and sometimes, the tonsils and adenoids. The surgeon will place the patient under general anesthesia.
There is little risk associated with the procedure. But one should note that after tests, doctors and researchers often found that the laser surgery did not always permanently correct the snoring problem. Only 40% of cases with LAUP and UPPP surgery saw an improvement and the documentation of improvement was not completely clear. Another study showed that only 7% of patients who underwent those procedures were successful in ridding the problem.
The surgery may help with snoring but not cure the apnea, as the obstruction might be lower down in the throat. This is true of most treatments, as they can help with snoring but not necessarily the apnea. In such cases, the doctor may recommend an oxygen supply or breathing device such as a CPAP or BiPAP while sleeping. Heart therapies may also be necessary.
