What are the Sleep Apnea Surgery Risks?

Posted By EightNine On 29th April 2011

Sleep apnea surgery is one possible method of treating the condition. However it is usually only used as a last resort. The reason for this is that there are some pretty serious sleep apnea surgery risks. In severe cases that can’t be treated effectively in other ways the surgery may be a good option. However for most people it is not generally a good idea. There are other treatments that are usually more effective and that come with considerably less risk, your doctor will usually recommend these instead.

Sleep apnea surgery works by removing tissue from the back of the throat and along the soft palate. The reason for doing this is so that your airways will be expanded and be less likely to become obstructed. It also affects the muscles in your throat and makes it less likely that they will cause your throat to close up removing another potential source of obstruction. It is important to keep in mind that this is a very invasive procedure and there are a number of sleep apnea surgery risks that you are going to have to think about.

The biggest of the sleep apnea risks by far is that it simply won’t work. In about a third of all cases there is no noticeable improvement in the condition following surgery. This is a very high failure rate and it gets worse. In about half of all cases the sleep apnea will come back over time. That means that only about fifty percent of the people who have the surgery will get permanent results. In addition in many of the cases where the surgery doesn’t work it also makes other treatments like the CPAP machine less effective.

Infection is the other major sleep apnea surgery risk. The reason for this is that the surgery is done in a location where it is virtually impossible to keep germs out of. You can’t exactly put a bandage over the back of your throat. Combine this with the fact that it is a very invasive procedure and infection is very common. Most people will have some level of infection and about forty percent of people will have an infection that is serious enough to require a second surgery. Again this is a pretty high rate so the risks are pretty serious.

Although not technically one of the sleep apnea surgery risks you should keep in mind that it is a very painful operation. It also takes several weeks for to recover so this is not something that you should enter into lightly. A lot of people like the idea of surgery because the CPAP machine is so impractical. That may be true but most people find that the surgery is not worth the pain and the risks that come with it. The surgery should really only be considered when all other treatment options have failed. Even then it is usually only effective with patients who have a deformed soft palate.

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