Hemostatic suture for septoplasty: how we do it.

One of the disadvantages of the septoplasty procedure is patient discomfort, mainly from nasal packing, usually necessitating hospital stay. In an attempt to overcome some of this problem, a method was sought to replace the purpose of packing; namely hemostasis, prevention of hematoma and displacement of the retained cartilage. A continuous septal suturing technique was conceived some years ago by one of the authors (LV) and since then used extensively and perfected by both. Using this method in more than 800 cases (both septoplasties and septorhinoplasties) has proved to considerably reduce patient discomfort by eliminating nasal packs, and allowed the septoplasty procedure to be carried out in most cases on a day-surgery basis, also reducing the hospital stay of the septorhinoplasties. The final postoperative appearance of the septum also seems better than previously. We conclude that the use of the continuous hemostatic-stabilizing septal suturing technique is a useful modification of the standard procedure, with only minor increase in operating time.