Nasal Surgery for Chronic Headache?

A recent meta study showed that many patients are experiencing significant improvement after certain types of nasal surgeries. But read on for details before you rush out to get the surgery done yourself.

The study was published last month in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Researchers collected 39 studies, reporting on 1,577 patients who specifically had functional nasal surgery for chronic headaches. The purpose of this type of surgery is basically to improve the “function” of nasal pathways by enlarging pathways.

First, the good news. Many patients did improve – some even considered themselves “cured” of chronic headaches after the procedure. We’ll get to the details later.

But note that these were patients who had surgery specifically for chronic headaches. And that means that the patients were people who doctors felt would benefit from this surgery for specific reasons.

What would those reasons be? One example would be to treat a deviated septum. A deviated septum is actually pretty common – but it is unlikely to be the cause of your chronic headaches. However, there are ways that your doctor can check (without surgery). A major hint is when the headaches occur on the side toward which the septum deviates. The doctor can use an anaesthetic  to see if she can relieve the headache. More info here – Is a Deviated Septum giving you a headache?

Another example – clearing the pathways of excessive sinus tissue. There are actually a few reasons why you may have a partial blockage – and again, this is something your doctor can check.

Some patients had other problems that tipped them off – such as recurring sinus infections.

So now you’ll understand the statistics a little better. These are not random patients, but patients that had a specific need for the surgery due to a sinus problem.

About 48% of patients considered their chronic headaches to be “cured”. Another 37% reported some improvement in frequency or severity of headaches. So, most patients had some improvement.

By no means a miraculous cure, considering they had a specific reason for the surgery. However, two things to remember. First, other problems were likely solved for many of these patients. And as far as surgeries go, this one is considered “minimally invasive”.

Although most specialists will consider surgery very far down the list for headache treatment, if you do have some issues with your sinuses and nasal passages, it makes sense to get it checked out at least. It could be, for a subset of patients, THE solution that should not be ignored.

To read more, check out Functional nasal surgery relieves chronic headache for some patients.