Recently, the Health & Wellness section of the Los Angeles Times had two excellent articles that dealt with the problem of sleep apnea and snoring

According to the Los Angeles Times, “2% of women, or at least 4% of men, suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.”  If you are not familiar with sleep apnea, it is a condition “in which the airway collapses and blocks breathing for 30 seconds, or even up to a minute or two.  The brain senses that it isn’t receiving enough oxygen and sends a signal to the patient to wake.”

People with sleep apnea (apnea is translated as “without breath”), find themselves in an unsatisfactory and untenable situation because their sleep quality is poor.  Poor sleep quality can generate  a myriad of problems including sleepiness at work and leisure, and even possible elevations of blood pressure, and other imperfections in your normal bodily function.

Maybe there is a connection between the rise in obesity in the United States and sleep apnea.  The paper says, “the incident rises with age: experts estimate that it affects about 40% of people age 65 and older.”  What we are seeing in the United States is that older people tend to be heavier.  That is not good news on many fronts. 

The articles also points out that it’s not just about age.  The overweight issue is very significant.  Overweight patients have double the risk of sleep apnea according to Dr. Lawrence Epstein, of a sleep center chain in Massachusetts.  Incidentally, if you have ever seen kids with large tonsils and adenoids struggling to get breath when they are sleeping at night, which is not that uncommon, you have a clue as to what sleep apnea is like. 

The article pointed out that there are mechanical remedies available including the infamous CPAP (“Continuous Positive Airway Pressure”) device, which is a spaceman-like mask which affixes tightly and to the face, akin to a scuba mask.  An external electrical power source drives the air into the lungs under pressure at night.  It is not too pretty; but, it does provide relief for people. 

Other technical aids are dental mouth pieces, and even some of these external nasal breathing strips. 

I was a bit disappointed that the article did not discuss management of one of the key causes of sleep apnea – that is a blocked nose. Nasal obstruction.

More on that to follow because there is a huge pool of patients in the United States, and worldwide, whose problems can be helped with a veteran, venerable, and reliable one-hour surgical procedure – nasal septoplasty and turbinate resection, with or without rhinoplasty. 

~Robert Kotler, MD, FACS

Several months ago, the United States Food and Drug administration gave approval to sell Allegra, an anti-allergy pill, without a prescription.  The entire Allegra family of products will be available on drug store shelves.

The product has been on the market for quite a few years and there are other products that purport to provide the same benefit.  The rationale for taking these medications is that through certain biological pathways, the medication will blunt the effect of those substances to which the body is allergic.  It is the allergic reaction which causes the symptoms of blocked breathing, runny nose, itching, sneezing, watery eyes, etc.  It’s no fun.  I can tell you from my own experience that as a child and adolescent, I had quite bad allergies particularly to ragweed which is endemic during the late summer in the upper midwest. 

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, there are approximately 40 million Americans who have both indoor and outdoor allergies.  According to the article, the most common triggers are tree, grass and weed pollen; mold spores; dust mite and cockroach allergen and cat, dog and rodent dander. 

One issue that always comes up is how effective are these medications in terms of relieving the blocked breathing.  It has been my observation while they can be helpful when alleviating the other symptoms which besides those mentioned above can include even a scratchy throat and a red and unique sensation of itchiness in the throat.   But, I find such pills, tablets, syrups or whatever woefully inadequate in providing a normal airway for patients.

I realize I’m taking issue with a huge economic force, a large commercial market selling billions of dollars worth of medications – prescription and nonprescription  – to the public with the promise of helping breathing.   In my opinion, there is no substitute for the one-time, one-hour surgical procedure that for nearly every patient will bring lifetime relief.  The classic and typical procedure is correction of a deviated septum, if that is a factor and it often is, and thereby restricting the airflow regardless of the status of the lining of the nose which is the target for the allergic reaction, and most importantly, trimming by various means including surgical excision, laser, and other technologies, enlarged turbinates.  The most commonly enlarged turbinates are the right and left inferior turbinates.  While there are a total of six, three on each side (upper, middle and lower turbinates), it is the lowers that have the greatest potential for severe swelling as the lining is attacked by the allergen.  Incidentally, the same process takes place when you get a cold.  In that case, the virus invades the tissue inciting a reaction by the body causing the lining to swell.  When the lining swells, the diameter of the air passage in the nose diminishes.

I am an advocate of the surgery because patients appreciate that it is a one-time cure.  As one doctor-patient unfairly credited me with a big victory:  “Dr. Kotler, you cured my allergies.”  I really didn’t cure the allergies.  But what my surgery did was create such a large internal nasal airway that even when he had an allergic attack, and the lining swelled and thus diminish the airflow, there was so much extra room that he could still have satisfactory breathing. 

I liken it to converting a two-lane highway to a four-lane highway.   Even if there is a minor accident – the analogy here is that the accident is either an allergy attack or cold – there is still room for the airflow or traffic to pass.

Recently, I made my contribution to improving that operation by developing what is now known as the Kotler Nasal Airway.  This is a right and left medical grade silicone soft tube that the surgeon seats on the floor of the nose after the corrective nasal surgery that allows the patient to breathe despite the rest of the nose being swollen and/or being packed with various cotton-like substances that surgeons use to help keep the tissues in proper position and reduce bleeding. 

The patient satisfaction rate for the operation itself has been high but the postoperative period, heretofore, before use of the Kotler Nasal Airway, has been less than popular because of the misery of what one patient described as “feeling like I had a clothespin on the tip of my nose for five days.”

Science never sleeps.  We move forward and any contribution that makes an operation more palatable, comfortable and successful is always welcomed.

~ Robert Kotler, MD, FACS

Dr. 90210 Nose Job

As I write this, I am in the Upper Midwest.  While I spent some of my time in a small town, Green Lake, WI, population 1,100, I didn’t have too many discussions with people about rhinoplasty or cosmetic nasal surgery.  In that part of the woods, nose jobs are not very commonly done because the sub-culture of a rural area in South Central Wisconsin doesn’t emphasize cosmetic surgery. 

However, what is fascinating is that the young people recognize Dr. 90210. Ah, the power of television!

We had a fun encounter on the golf course at Lawsonia, on the shore of Green Lake. On the course, high school and college students drive the refreshment carts.  Refreshments include snacks, soft drinks, ice-cold water, and they are much appreciated on these hot and humid Upper Midwest summer days. 

One of my golfing buddies, chatting with one of the young lady golf cart drivers, pointed to me and apparently said something to the effect of, “See that guy, he is one of the doctors on Dr. 90210.”  He reported that her eyes opened widely and her jaw dropped. The thought of a “Hollywood Celebrity” being in Green Lake, WI, population 1100, may have been just too much for her.  Luckily, she didn’t pass out.  He said to her “Would you like Dr. Kotler’s autograph?”  Apparently she did and met us at the next hole with all due speed. I was pleased to give her a copy of my Secrets of a Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgery book card with my signature. 

As I walked away to tee off, one of the guys in my group reported that she immediately got on her cell phone to call one of the other young people who work on the course to report that she “just met Dr. 90210” and that she has his autograph!

So, the Dr. 90210 fame continues and deservedly so, in my opinion.  The program was educational as well as entertaining and demystified the subject of cosmetic surgery and simplified patient understanding of the course of the cosmetic surgery patient.

Dr. 90210 Rhinoplasty Specialist

Here, in Zip code 90210, there are some of the world’s most sophisticated cosmetic surgeons. “ The Golden Triangle of Beverly Hills, Zip 90210” has eye doctors who specialize in cosmetic surgery of the eyelids and brow and dermatologists who specialize in chemical skin peels and filler injections such as Juvéderm, Restylane, Perlane and of course, Botox  and Dysport.  We have other cosmetic plastic surgery specialists that have particular expertise in cosmetic breast surgery, both primary and revision breast augmentation.  There is one surgeon whose practice is nearly only breast surgery and he does revision breast augmentation for patients who have had work done elsewhere and are dissatisfied.

Other cosmetic plastic surgeons specialize in tummy tuck and liposuction.

I have always felt that the most specialized and highly focused talents should be the choices for patients.  Patients often don’t recognize or are unaware of the degree to which all medicine has become specialized, sub-specialized and superspecialized.  A superspecialist is a doctor who practices a very boutique practice, focusing on six or fewer procedures. Typically, he has taken additional training beyond a long residency and even after passing the rigorous board exam to become “board certified”.

As one of the doctors who appeared on Dr. 90210 and as a rhinoplasty superspecialist, I can attest to the fact that, unfortunately, there are patients who come to see us who have had substandard work done by surgeons who have had very little training in cosmetic and functional nasal surgery, and who have no focus in that area.  These surgeons may do everything from hair transplants to thigh implants and everything in between.  Rarely will they be the most experienced and proficient practitioners.

What prospective patients need to know is that if they put themselves in the hands of those surgeons who have long experience and a fine degree of specialization, they are more likely to have a satisfactory outcome.