Correcting Deviated Septum

[onebir]

Anyone ever had this done in Thailand? Or (perhaps though experience of other nasal/plastic surgery) have any idea of good hospitals, approximate costs etc? Thanks!

[wpcoe]

Yes, I had my (congenital) deviated septum corrected in Thailand a couple years ago at Bangkok Nursing Hospital (BNH) on Soi Convent in Bangkok. I have *HIGH* regard to the ENT doctor, Doctor Pasakorn, who performed the operation.

I was kept inpatient for one night. I was told I could stay two nights, but that if I wanted to check out after the first night it was okay, just to be sure to return for the post-op checkup on the next day, which I did. I'm not fond of hospitals, even when they are like five-star hotels, and preferred to convalesce at home.

I don't have the medical receipts here on hand now, but will try to locate them. I have a combination of local Thai BUPA health insurance and Blue Cross/Blue Shield-administered insurance with my employer in the USA, so in the end I ended up paying next to nothing, hence I can't even make a guess at what the costs were right now.

I might add that my admiration and repect for Doctor Pasakorn is not from just that one procedure. I also have chronic tinnitis, and had several consultations with him about that, and also about some chronic ear infections i had more recently.

[edited for typos...]

Edited July 20, 2007 by wpcoe

[onebir]

Thanks wpcoe - I'll investigate BNH. Any other congenitally crooked septum types with tales to tell?

[dominique355]

I have a deviated septum and I have had surgery twice, although in Switzerland. After the first time and also after the second time, maybe 2 years later, everything was back to the way it used to be before the surgery. So for me it was a total waste of time and money. My septum is still deviated with all the breathing problems associated with it, but I learned to live with it.

Obviously I cannot comment on hospitals and prices here in Thailand. But ask your doctor about the long term perspective of the surgery.

[onebir]

After the first time and also after the second time, maybe 2 years later, everything was back to the way it used to be before the surgery.

Thanks for the info dominique - i didn't realise it was possible for the septum to redeviate I don't really have a doctor to ask here in China, and having seen the state of the hospitals I'd be very reluctant to have elective surgery here! So if you know of any good online sources of information, I'd really appreciate it.

If you haven't tried it already, I've found that yoga practices helped a great deal with the breathing problems (which I didn't really realise I had until I started doing that sort of thing). Yoga's probably a bit more accessible and I've found several practices help improve my breathing with almost immediate results:

- vinayasa yoga: moving between different postures with breath and movement exactly synchronised

- (single nostril) pranayama exercises: pressing on the outside of one nostril to block it and breathing through the other for a certain number of counts, and following certain patterns

I've not tried it, but "neti" - irrigating the nostrils with (salty?) water using a small watering pot type device - could help too.

If you're interested you could try http://www.yogaelements.com/. They exclusively teach vinyasa style yoga, & although I don't think they teach pranayama to beginners, they might show you some simple pranayamas if you asked. (Kapalabati & alternate nostril breathing strike me as the most appropriate). I also have a yoga teacher friend in BK who teaches a less strenuous style of yoga - PM me if you'd like me to get in touch with her.

Tai chi/chigung type practices can help too, but they don't seem as specific to this type of problem, which yoga addresses directly because (believe it or not) according to yoga theory which nostril you're breathing through at any given time has a direct influence on your mental state...