Deviated Septum- Cause, Symptoms, And Cure

Deviated septum is a situation in which the thin line between your nasal line is displaced to one side, offside, or is deviated to make one nasal passage smaller. A deviated septum can reduce the airflow by blocking one side of the nose and can cause difficulty in breathing. 

People going through deviated septum can sometimes face bleeding or crusting because of the drying effect of airflow through the nose. It can also lead to nasal blockage or congestion, which occurs because of the swelling of the tissues lining the nose. 

A deviated septum can be since birth or can happen because of injury during childbirth. An injury around your nasal septum can also lead to a deviated septum.

Causes:

Any sort of injury to the nose

Deviated septum can happen because of an injury that covers your nasal septum out of the place, which can happen while playing contact sports or while driving or riding a vehicle.

Since birth

Sometimes, a deviated septum can happen while the fetus develops in the womb or because of injury during childbirth.

Symptoms:

The deviated septum has no symptoms but there are certain signs that you can look for to detect deviated septum:

Nosebleed and facial pain

There are high chances that the surface of your nasal partition becomes dry, which increases the possibility of a nosebleed. In the case of a severely deviated septum, the surface within the nose touches and causes pressure, which leads to one-sided facial pain.

Noisy sleep or preferring sleeping on a particular side

Swelling of the tissues can lead to noisy breathing during sleep, also some people prefer sleeping on a particular side so that they can breathe properly through one side of the nose when the other nasal passage is narrow.

Blockage of the nostrils

There is difficulty in breathing through nostrils because of obstruction, which enhances during the cold or allergies, which causes the nasal passage to swell and narrow even more.

Being aware of the nasal cycle

One learns about the nasal cycle (the process of nose’s obstruction on one side and then changes to being obstructed on the other), because of the swelling in the nasal passage.

Cure and treatment

There are multiple treatments that one can opt for to cure deviated septum. Some of them are;

Reshaping of nose or Rhinoplasty

Rhinoplasty is a surgery that is done to change the shape of your nose and improve breathing. It changes the shape, size, or proportion of your nose and can repair any deformities from injury or birth defects. Rhinoplasty by Dr. Frank P. Fechner also improves breathing-related difficulties by modifying the bone and cartilage of your nose. 

Rhinoplasty carries a risk of bleeding, anesthesia reactions, and infection, but these are temporary and the doctor will have a solution to all these. A person takes a maximum of a week to two to recover from this surgery and by the end of the second week, they feel okay and ready to get back to work.  

Manage your symptoms

During the initial stage of the deviated septum, one can take care and manage your symptoms to cure themselves. This management can only happen under the guidance of a specialized doctor. 

Your doctor can prescribe your decongestants, which are medicines that are used to reduce nasal tissue swelling and open your nose from both sides. Decongestants are available both as pills and nasal spray. 

Your doctor can also prescribe antihistamines or nasal steroid spray, which prevents you from allergy symptoms like runny or stuffy nose and is used to control swelling in the nasal passage.

Conclusion 

Deviated septum is barely a disease and requires some number of precautions. Consult a doctor as soon as you feel things are getting serious and the condition is getting hard to handle. Doctors have several treatments before surgery to heal your condition.