Video Blog: What is Empty Nose Syndrome?

Dr. Evans discusses a rare complication of nasal surgery. Empty nose syndrome is most likely to occur following resection (removal) of the inferior turbinates. It is not entirely clear how often ENS occurs, but it may be as high as 20% of the time following inferior turbinate resection. Dr. Evans always shrinks inferior turbinates rather than removing them in an attempt to keep the risk of empty nose syndrome as low as possible. For all other nasal or sinus surgeries than removal of the inferior turbinates, the risk of empty nose syndrome is very low, and I have been fortunate to have never seen this complication in any of my patients.