The inferior turbinates are normal structures along the lateral walls of the nasal cavities. They are composed of bones lined by mucosa. When the inferior turbinates are pathologically enlarged, patients may experience nasal obstruction, or difficulty breathing through their noses. Turbinate enlargement may be due to thickening of either the mucosa or the bone, or both. After medical therapy has failed, and surgery is considered, which is called inferior turbinate reduction. Before surgery is performed, it must be determined whether the mucosa and/or bone are contributing to the patient’s nasal obstruction. One way to do this is to view the turbinates before and after placing decongestant in the nose, which will shrink the turbinate mucosa. If the turbinates still appear large even after decongestion, then the bone is considered enlarged, and consideration should be given to reducing both the bone and mucosa at the time of surgery. In this case example, both the turbinate’s bone and mucosa were enlarged, and therefore both bony and submucosal inferior turbinate reductions were performed. This resulted in a nicely patent nasal cavity where the nasopharynx could be visualized from the anterior nasal cavity at the conclusion of the case.
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