is somnoplasty a good choice for sleep apnea.?!
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Answers:
it REALLY depends.
"somnoplasty" can be used to describe a variety of operations, the most common of which involves shrinking the base of the tongue with radiofrequency (essentially, it's like microwaving the back of your tongue so it shrinks).
unfortunately, for all comers, sleep apnea surgery is only effective 40-50% of the time, and the followup for those studies is relatively short (a year or two).
the patients on whom the surgeries work the best are thin. as much surgery as we'd like to do, none of it works very well in the area of sleep apnea if you're overweight. losing weight does MUCH better than surgery.
the two definitive treatments for sleep apnea are either CPAP or a tracheotomy, neither of which is ideal. there are some more drastic procedures where we essentially saw your jaw in half, move it forward, and screw it back together. these work much better (80-95%), but they're obviously much bigger operations and are associated with a change in the shape of your face.
hope that helped!
Other Answers:
I have severe sleep apnea and after consultation the specialist told me I had maybe a 50/50 chance of getting rid of it. He even said most patients that undergo procedures end up using the cPAP, so what's the point?
I cured my apnea with the cPAP, and even when I got lazy and stopped using it I continued to sleep well for a few months, but have since reverted back and I have to use it again. My doctor tells me I might impove lots if I lose weight, which I think is the best method.
Source(s):
Me and my doctors
I would say no on the somnoplasty because even if it DOES help you, there is a good possiblity that the sleep apnea would come back. So you'd be stuck with cpap again. If you are looking for more information and in depth answers and ways to cope with sleep apnea try this forum:
http://www.cpaptalk.com
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