- High Blood Pressure
- Heart Disease
- Diabetes
- Increase risk of accidents
- Premature death
- Erectile dysfunction
After weight loss and lifestyle modifications, the first line treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is a CPAP device to force airflow to open the collapsed airways. However, up to HALF of patients have difficulty tolerating CPAP. Often CPAP failure is due to anatomic obstruction of the nasal passages blocking airflow. The goal of many surgeries to treat OSA is to improve the tolerance of CPAP.
Inspire Implant
An exciting recent development in the treatment of OSA is the Inspire implant. This device directly stimulates the muscles of the tongue and throat during inspiration to open the air passages and prevent blockage during sleep. The device can be implanted in an outpatient operation involving only 3 small incisions with minimal recovery time.
Snoring
While not as dangerous as sleep apnea, snoring can nonetheless be just as disruptive to a good night’s sleep for you and your partner. Snoring often occurs when poor airflow through the nose causes the mouth to open and tongue to fall back leading to the vibrations that cause the sound.
Procedures to improve snoring often involve improving nasal airflow. If breathing through the nose is not the issue, then procedure to directly address the soft palate can significantly decrease or eliminate snoring.