Deviated nasal septum or “crooked” internal nose can occur at childbirth or as the result of an injury or other trauma.

Put simply, septoplasty is a surgery that helps repair the passageways in the nose making it easier to breathe.

Under general or local anesthesia, the surgeon works through the nostrils, making an incision in the lining of the septum to reach the cartilage/bone targeted in the operation.

After the septum is straightened, it may then be stabilized temporarily with small plastic tubes, splints, or sutures internally.

Apart from in patients with deviated nasal septum causing airway obstruction leading to difficulty with breathing, recurrent rhinitis, or sinusitis, septoplasty is done as an approach to hypophysectomy.

Patients who have nasal splints should receive prophylactic antibiotics against gram positive organisms to prevent possible toxic shock syndrome.