Sleep Apnea Surgery Risks

Posted By EightNine On 29th April 2011

There are quite a few different ways to treat sleep apnea and one of those options is surgery. In general surgery is only performed in the most extreme cases. This is in large part because of the sleep apnea surgery risks. The surgery involves removing some of the tissue at the back of the throat and along the soft palate. It is quite an invasive procedure so there are quite a few risks involved. You will need to talk to your doctor to decide if surgery really is the best option for dealing with your sleep apnea.

The main sleep apnea surgery risk is that the procedure will not be effective. At best only sixty five percent of people who have sleep apnea surgery will see an improvement in their condition. As time goes by this number will be reduced even lower as the results of the surgery are not permanent in many people. Only about half the people who have the surgery will find that their condition improves permanently. The remainder will either see no improvement or find that their sleep apnea comes back. This can be especially problematic because one of the other risks of the surgery is that it makes the continuous positive air pressure machine less effective. Since the CPAP breathing machine is generally regarded as the best treatment for sleep apnea having it become less effective is a serious problem.

The other major sleep apnea surgery risk is infection. There have been studies that have shown that about forty percent of all the people who have the surgery will get an infection that is so serious that it will require another surgery. This is a major risk because any time that it is necessary to perform the surgery twice you are causing more damage and making it less likely that the surgery will be successful.

Another reason that you probably don’t want to have a second sleep apnea surgery is that it is an incredibly painful procedure, generally regarded as one of  the most painful surgeries that you can have. Although this should not technically be classed as one of the sleep apnea surgery risks it is something that you are probably going to want to keep in mind. In addition to being painful it also takes several weeks to recover from the surgery so the discomfort is going to last for quite a long time.

Most of the other sleep apnea surgery risks are fairly minor the biggest of these is that can be difficult to keep liquids out of your airway causing a choking hazard. You may also find that it is difficult to swallow and that you have mucus in your throat. You may also regurgitate liquids through your nose. Other minor risks include things like a change in your voice or an impairment of your sense of smell. These are fairly small risks but they do impact your quality of life so you should think about them before you commit to the surgery.

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