Hybrid Rhinoplasty / Septoplasty

For Difficulty Breathing Through the Nose

Many people have difficulty breathing through the nose. Although inflammatory problems such as nasal allergies or sinusitis cause some of this, structural problems in the nose may also be at play.

The most common structural problems leading to nasal obstruction are a crooked nasal septum (the partition that separated the two nasal passages), enlarged nasal turbinates (the internal filtering organs inside each nasal passage), collapse of the outer wall of the nose with inspiration, or severely crooked nasal bones. These can all be improved through functional rhinoplasty.

Some cosmetic rhinoplasty patients also have nasal obstruction due to one of these problems. Dr. Kim performs many nasal surgeries in which both cosmetic and functional breathing problems are corrected in the same operation in San Francisco. In fact, Dr. David W. Kim is the principal investigator of the first ever multi-center outcomes study investigating the effectiveness of functional rhinoplasty for nasal obstruction.

In this study, Dr. Kim scientifically demonstrated for the first time that rhinoplasty for functional nasal breathing problems is effective and associated with improvements in patient quality of life. This landmark study also showed the importance of treating multiple areas inside the nose in order to maximally improve breathing.

In particular, Dr. Kim believes that nasal obstruction is often caused by collapse of the sides of the nose when individuals breathe in deeply. The vacuum that is created from inspiration causes the side walls of the nose to pinch inward and block air flow. In such cases, traditional nasal breathing surgeries such as septoplasty or turbinate reduction may not provide much benefit. In these cases, Dr. Kim performs functional rhinoplasty procedures which strengthen and stiffen the side walls of the nose.