A NOSE SHOULD FUNCTION NORMALLY

A good looking nose should also function normally. If  not, it could undermine your health. Why? During a single day, we inhale and exhale around 17 000 times, taking in some 100 cubic metres of air.  Within 1/15 of a second, less than a blink of the eye, the nose can warm a flow of air from a freezing minus 50 degrees Celsius (or from a stifling hot 50 degrees plus) to a comfortable 37 degrees. It does this in less than 8 cm. Not only does it regulate temperature, it also humidifies and purifies the air before it reaches the lungs.

This rhythmic process of breathing in and out through the nose energises and detoxifies the body. But for the nose to do its job correctly, we have to breathe through the nose; not the mouth. Imagine then, the effect shallow chest or mouth breathing – or congenital defects or accidental damage to the internal channels of the nose – could have on your health.

THE NOSE CLINIC DIFFERENCE

The ability to work with both the internal functional aspects of the nose and the external aesthetics properties of the shape of the nose differentiates the Nose Clinic from the work of general cosmetic surgeons. We understand how important it is to breathe correctly, and unlike general cosmetic surgeons (not trained in functional nasal surgery), we have the qualifications, skills and experience to resolve the causes of functional breathing abnormalities. We do this while reshaping the nose. In short, we ensure that a good looking nose can do its job.

Two sets of valves in the nose regulate nose breathing.  The rims of the nostrils form the first set of valves. A bit higher, in the mid-vault area of the nose (approximately the mid-point of the bridge), we find the second set of valves. These valves are regulators. They regulate breathing by resisting the flow of air through the nose during the breathing cycle. By creating resistance, they retard the flow of air sufficiently long enough for

the internal nose organs to humidify and filter the air, and adjust the temperature to levels the lungs can accommodate. Without this resistance, we cannot oxygenate the body efficiently. Too little resistance would allow the air to reach our lungs prematurely, while too much resistance would trigger mouth-breathing.

Correct breathing through the nose proceeds over a three-phase cycle – the inspiratory, latent and expiratory phases. The inspiratory phase starts as we breathe air into our lungs through the nasal channels of the nose. As the air reaches the lungs, we pause briefly. We call this the latent phase. This pause   allows the body to release old carbon dioxide in exchange for fresh oxygen. We then breathe out. We call that the expiratory phase.

CRITICAL POINT

If resistance goes beyond a certain critical point, we stop breathing through the nose and switch to mouth breathing. Mouth breathing shortens the latent phase of the oxygen exchange cycle. Lacking oxygen, we become hypoxic – our blood oxygen levels drop. Neither can we process the air.

One of the most prominent symptoms of hypoxia is a loss of energy. Feeling ‘flat’ and fatigued, we rush off to a GP and ask for a tonic. The next significant symptom is poor concentration and memory loss. Even more worrying is that when blood oxygen levels drop, the heart compensates by working harder. This extra load can induce what doctors refer to as CCF – congestive cardiac failure (a heart attack). If that is not enough, low blood oxygen levels lead eventually to depression.

DO YOU NEED FUNCTIONAL SURGERY?

A frequently stuffy or blocked nose, a dry, irritated throat or a loss of smell and taste suggest a functional breathing problem. It’s worth remembering that if a good looking nose can’t do its job, mouth breathing will eventually undermine your health.

1. The crooked cartilage and bone of a deviated septum can block and interfere with your breathing and sinus drainage.

2. To gain entry to the septal cartilage and bone, and to preserve as much of the delicate mucosal lining as possible, we make the incisions inside your nose.

3. Once we have elevated or lifted the mucosal lining we can trim, re-shape, reposition or remove sections of the deviated septum and bone.

4. We trim just enough of the septal cartilage and bone to correct deviations, maintain support and create maximum breathing space.

1. Enlarged turbinates interfere with your breathing and the proper draining of your sinus cavities. Note how we adhere to the triangular guidelines to maintain the ideal shape of your nose.

2. We make an incision along the undersurface of the inferior turbinate so that we can lift or elevate the mucosa off the turbinate bone.

3. We reduce the size of the turbinate by removing bone and in some cases, excess mucosa. The margins of the mucosa are often cauterised.

4. We remove just enough inferior turbinate bone and mucosa to increase the breathing space and allow the turbinates to function. The result: vital comfortable breathing.