Press Release - Having Nasal Surgery? Wins Award

Having Nasal Surgery? wins Bronze Medal in National Book Contest

Christopher Martin of Upstate New York, author of Having Nasal Surgery? Don't You Become An Empty Nose Victim! won an Independent Publisher Book Award for 2008, placing as a Bronze Medalist in theHealth/Medicine/Nutrition category.

Mr. Martin is excited to have received this award, noting that emptynose syndrome (ENS) – a chronic condition that results from an overly aggressive nasal surgery – merits far greater attention and understanding in the medical field. Symptoms of empty nose syndrome (ENS) include shortness of breath (despite a wide open nose), thick mucus, throat irritation, shallow sleep, high rates of depression, and even documented cases of suicide.

Having Nasal Surgery? has been favorably reviewed by Midwest Book Review, Kirkus Discoveries, and ForeWord Clarion, and has been well-received by top doctors in the field, including Mayo Clinic doctors.

Mr. Martin noted that the principal cause of ENS is removal of the turbinates in the nose. Turbinates are structures that warm and shape the airflow inside the nasal passages. They are often surgically reduced in an attempt to improve breathing. If too much of the turbinates are removed, the nose becomes unable to properly direct airflow to the lungs and chronic breathing problems result.

Since ENS often goes undiagnosed, Having Nasal Surgery? aims to educate physicians and the public about the importance of theturbinates and the impact of overly aggressive surgery on them. Mr.Martin advocates for a standard protocol that mandates allergy treatment and pulsatile saline irrigation prior to performing turbinate reductions. When surgery is performed, more conservative procedures should be used to minimize removal of essential tissues.

Mr. Martin also hopes that further awareness will encourage ENT doctors to explore and perfect reconstructive surgical options for ENS sufferers. Some research has been performed, but much more remains to be done. Barriers to a full understanding of ENS remain to be overcome, including a lack of understanding of airflow dynamics in the nose, concerns about litigation, and the field's orientation toward surgical cures for breathing problems.

For further information, please visit www.emptynosesyndrome.net and watch youtube ENS testimonial videos at http://www.emptynosesyndrome.org/. Mr. Martin may be contacted by email at webmaster@emptynosesyndrome.org.

Three goals for ENT specialists on empty nose syndrome

When we think about ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctors, what exactly is it that we really want from them? Why do we want more awareness among them? Here is what I think are three goals we want from the ENT profession:

1) To simply understand and become knowledgeable about ENS, so they can diagnose the currently undiagnosed. The doctors can identify the specific symptoms and its relation to the specific turbinate reductions. If we have a problem, just like any other sufferer of a serious condition, we deserve to have our problem correctly identified and offered appropriate treatment options. The difference between us and a cancer patient, is at least they get treated. These previously undiagnosed sufferers should thus be able to get appropriate help. And I don't mean a cure because there isn't one available; I just mean being offered the best options available to relieve the suffering.

2) We want ENTs to develop a position statement and legal mandate in the field about nasal surgeries (and its relation to ENS), and properly inform patients, so that ENTs would not cause ENS to other prospective nasal surgery patients. I personally believe ENTs should be required to mandate allergy treatment and saline irrigation prior to performing a turbinate reduction. This is a selfless reason, because the damage has already been done to us ENS sufferers; however, we know how damaging ENS can be and want to save others. A position paper would state what nasal surgeries are most likely to lead to ENS (e.g., total turbinectomies, partial and subtotal turbinectomies, and laser turbinate reductions) and which ones are least likely to lead to ENS (e.g., submucous resection with outfracture or radiofrequency).

3) To explore, refine and perfect reconstructive surgical options for ENS. Dr. Houser is already doing this and he is doing a terrific job at it. ENTs are surgeons. This is how they can help us. What we want is more ENT doctors to take interest in researching and performing reconstructive surgical options for ENS sufferers and perfecting these surgeries so that the surgeons are using the best and most cutting-edge materials available for implants (e.g., SIS, Alloderm); and through experience, they perfect and refine the size, location, and technique of the implants so that ENS sufferers would get optimal relief. ENT doctors could collaborate with plastic surgeons to perfect the technique and research scientists to use the best materials available.

It is point #3, reconstructive surgical options, that is the focus of a new forum section at www.emptynosesyndrome.org.

In my own experiences, I have found some relief from treating ENS with implants, as noted in my book. For example, I have much greater nasal airflow resistance, somewhat deeper sleep, and my nose is overall more moist and the mucus somewhat thinner after the implant. I find the implant to serve a sort of "preservation function" for my nose. In Dr. Houser's research article, it was shown that the implants provide improvement ranging from 25% to 90% relief, but his article also noted that the implants do not significantly relieve pain. The implant thus is not a cure, but it has brought partial relief, for which I am thankful.

What I have also learned in treating ENS is that an implant treats ENS, but its effect is more limited on sinusitis, allergies, asthma, gastroesaphogeal reflux, etc. If you have concomitant problems, you need to treat them as well. Our bodies consist of interdependent organs and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You are only as strong as the weakest link. You need to treat all issues. And you can often be preventative in treating an issue, such as the more effectively you treat your allergies, the less your symptoms of acid reflux or sinusitis.

Having Nasal Surgery? wins major national award

Having Nasal Surgery? Don't You Become An Empty Nose Victim! won an Independent Publisher Book Award 2008, Bronze Medalist, in the National category, Health/Medicine/Nutrition. Please check out item #41 at the following link: http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1231

I am elated and will develop a press release shortly announcing this award, with the hope it will attract media attention.