An LAUP (Laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty) procedure typically costs between two and three thousand American dollars.
[citation needed] Uvulopalatoplasty was developed in the 1980s by Dr. Yves-Victor Kamami, a surgeon of the Marie-Louise Clinic in Paris, France, who published his first articles on the subject in 1990.
Some surgeons have since stated that the procedure is not as effective as Kamami claimed, while others report a success rate of 85%.
During the late 1990s and the 2000s, researchers (including Finkelstein,[4] Schmidt, Larrosa[5] and others) published data which questioned the efficiency of the treatment and demonstrated that in a considerable number of cases, laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty may also cause mild obstructive sleep apnea in patients who has been nonapneic snorers, or lead to deterioration of existing apnea.
The laser may induce progressive palatal fibrosis, accompanied by medial traction of the posterior tonsillar pillars i.e., scar tissue reduces the airspace in the pharynx leading to velopharyngeal insufficiency.