Treatment of the obstructive nose by CO2-laser reduction of the inferior turbinates: technique and results.

In our department we treat chronically enlarged inferior turbinates (not responding to adequate medical therapy) with the CO2-laser or by partial inferior turbinoplasty. In this work the technique is described and short- and long-term results are evaluated. We divided our study group into two populations: one group with a follow-up of 18 months for which we could obtain objective measurements of the nasal patency by means of a preoperative and postoperative active anterior rhinomanometry, and another group with a follow-up of more than 15 years, for which (because of the absence of a pre-operative rhinomanometry) we could only obtain a subjective evaluation of the results by means of a questionnaire. Relief of nasal obstruction was reported by 88.5% of the patients until 5 years after laser surgery on the inferior turbinates. There seems to be no functional impairment on the nasal mucosa after this kind of surgery. The advantages and drawbacks of this technique are discussed.