29 year old female patient was very active with sports and enjoyed running and playing tennis. She first started noticing in high school that when she was actively breathing she found it hard to breath from her nose – it often felt like her nose was being pinched closed. She saw an ENT at the time who advised her that she had a deviated septum. She decided to have surgery for it and did notice some improvement but not enough for her problems to be resolved. Since she was busy with graduate school and starting a busy new job she decided to hold off on addressing the problem.

She continued to be very active in sports and had started using Breath Rite strips because she found that they helped her breath much better. She even started wearing them at night to improve her sleep. Deciding that she couldn’t wear them all the time she consulted with an ENT who found that she had nasal valve collapse on both sides. She was given various options to correct the problem including the placement of cartilage grafts in her nostrils, Latera implants and Vivaer procedure. The patient wished to have a minimally invasive procedure with long lasting results so she elected to undergo Vivaer procedure for both nostrils.

The procedure was done in the office with topical and local anesthesia. It had been noted by her ENT that while her deviated septum had been corrected well, her nasal turbinates were still large and blocking her inner nose. The Vivaer device was used to correct both her nasal valve collapse and enlarged turbinates at the same time. The patient did very well with the procedure and was able to resume running and playing tennis I week later.

Patient noticed continued improvement in her ability to breath from her nose for several weeks and months after the procedure. 6 months after the procedures she was happy not to be using the Breath Rite strips any more and was sleeping better as well.