Healthy Obsessions The Adventures of a Mild Obsessive Compulsive

A Follow Up on the Nasal Turbinates

I had the turbinate reduction towards the end of October. We’re now about mid November, and it’s mostly healed. It’s kind of funny. You don’t think about the issue of scabs going into it. Or at least, I didn’t. I just thought about the inflammation being gone, and actually being able to breathe through my nose. And then I thought about needles being inserted into my nose. But I didn’t think about the scabs.

You do get them. And they’re kinda big, all things considered. The first couple weeks, your nose feels dry. The saline solution nasal spray is a must. I had one I kept at work and another I carried in my bag. Use them freely, should you ever be in this situation. Because if your nose gets too dry, it will hurt. And the injured area will ooze. And it will crust. And that will be unpleasant, too. Do, however, keep kleenex around. You’ll need it about two minutes after using the saline spray, because your nose just starts to drip.

I’ve stopped using the saline. Doesn’t seem necessary any longer. I’m back to using my antihistamine nose spray and my steroidal nose spray. And I don’t know yet how much of a difference the procedure will make. Because of those scabs.

(Do not read further if scabs gross you out, k?)

The scabs. I keep kinda circling around the topic, huh? On the one hand, I’m fascinated with this stuff. On the other, I don’t want to gross people out. But. This is the sort of info you should have going into it. The scabs are pretty big. You can feel them when you blow your nose (which you are not to do for at least the first week). But after that…. yeah. Pretty obvious. And try not to blow your nose too enthusiastically, even when it’s okay. Because that can actually make the scab tear a bit, which will lead to a bloody nose. Not painful, mind you. Just messy. And then there’s the fun day when you blow your nose, in my case right after using my neti pot, and a scab comes out. And it’s huge. And you have to refrain from running into the other room to show your boyfriend this thumbnail sized thing that’s a combination of snot, dried blood, and dead skin cells. Because you want to share this, because it seems somehow impressive. Like when you were eight years old and skinned your knee and all of your friends were impressed at how bad it was.

I guess I’m still eight years old. I did manage to refrain, barely.

So. Still healing. Never painful. Sometimes uncomfortable. I’ve used the CPAP a handful of nights, but I’m finding that the air pressure is still too high. I do still have blockage in my nose (in the form of the scabs now, instead of inflamed turbinates). We won’t really know if that solved the excess air pressure until things are more fully healed. There will be further updates as things progress (duh). I will do my best to refrain from sharing pictures with y’all, though.

Also, my doctor remains awesome. First thing he said to me when I came in for my follow up was that he’d seen my blog. Which was both embarrassing, and kinda cool. More on the cool side, I think. “You are watching us,” he said, “but we are watching you!”

It’s the age of information access, thanks to the internet, and the world is still changing.

Addendum: Coming in the next week or so: my experiences with the Zeo and how it stacks up with my fitbit & sleep cycle, now that I’ve been using all of them for a few weeks.

10 Thoughts on “A Follow Up on the Nasal Turbinates

  1. I would have looked at your scab with you, and been impressed that something that big came out of your nose. But we’ve neti-potted into the same sink, so it’s different than sharing with the general public.

  2. How have you got on since this post. I’ve had a turbinate reduction 1 week ago and I’m at the scabbing part. I’d be interested to hear what happens after this stage!

    • Hi, Dan. I’m several months out now, and my nasal passages are clearer (and probably larger) than they’ve ever been before. I still get allergic congestion, but it’s nowhere near as bad.

      For me, the scabs lasted a pretty long time. They got smaller as they went, but they stuck around for at least a month. A bit more than that, I think, but by that point they were small enough that I barely noticed them. The neti pot helped a lot.

      Please let me know how your recovery goes!

  3. Michael on July 27, 2012 at 8:28 am said:

    Hey Diana, i Just had the procedure done and I been feeling this air pressure that gets worse at night. I wanted to know if you had that, and if it’s more like the pain from the scabs forming inside!

    • Diana on July 30, 2012 at 9:23 pm said:

      I did have problems with the scabs. Couldn’t use my cpap at all for a while, and had to use saline nasal spray to keep the scabs from hurting. So, it could be. Has it gotten any better since last week?

  4. Just happened upon your blog while doing a little post-op research. I am 3 weeks out from sinus surgery and at the “scabby” part. Oh, how I laughed at your comment about wanting to run into the other room to show your boyfriend!! I had the same reaction tonight when my first big one came out!

  5. Billie Jo on August 9, 2017 at 2:44 pm said:

    Thanks for this post! I just had the procedure done yesterday and already have a huge scab. But I didn’t know if I should pick it or not. After reading ur post I now know to leave it alone and just hope others can’t see it while talking to to me! It’s like having a huge bugar right there

  6. Hello everyone. I’m about 5 weeks out of the procedure and still having some scabbing. I’m beginning to worry a bit … been reading too many awful things on the internet. I am super interested in anyone that experienced scabbing longer and when it finally stopped. Thanks for sharing. I’m trying to be optimistic and positive that the end is near and that I am almost fully healed. 🙂

  7. Mich on June 30, 2018 at 9:56 am said:

    Its been 8 years for my wife since the procedure and still scabbing peeling cycle continues. When peeling, nerve pain occurs and moves to various nerve points in the head and abdomen as though some autonomic response. She as never gone back to the ENT or doctors and takes no medication. Just twice daily saline flushing. Why has the surgery area not healed, anybody else have this problem so many years after the procedure?

  8. Ashley West Roberts on August 22, 2018 at 11:05 am said:

    Hi. Thanks for posting. Do you remember how long it took before you were breathing significantly better? Thanks!

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