One of the most common reasons to pursue nasal surgery is for nasal obstruction caused by a septal deviation. Otolaryngologists frequently perform septoplasties to improve nasal obstruction due to septal deviation, leading to improved airflow and decrease office visits and medication use. Concurrently with septal deviations, the inferior turbinate tends to become hypertrophied on the contralateral side potentially causing additional nasal obstruction. While septal deviations and inferior turbinate hypertrophy are more anatomical causes of nasal obstruction, there are also other types that vary depending on nasal airflow, such as nasal valve collapse. One way to surgically correct such dynamic nasal obstruction includes alar batten grafts. These grafts are not meant to change the anatomy of the nose, but instead, function to support the weakened lateral wall. Expanding the current septoplasty procedure to include batten grafts as well as inferior turbinate reduction could possibly improve long-term outcomes, especially reducing future surgeries.
The objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of batten grafts plus septoplasty and turbinate reduction (intervention arm) compared to septoplasty and turbinate reduction alone (control arm), both in terms of subjective and objective assessments.