Posted by Sandman on March 11, 2008 at 14:05:30:In Reply to: Re: How severe is this?? posted by Michael_needs_sleep on March 11, 2008 at 07:48:24:
The best way to find a experienced surgeon locally is to talk to the sleep centers in your area. Most have a surgeon that they work with. The best info on evaluating a sleep surgeon is posted by SeattleBill
http://www.sleepnet.com/noncpap22/messages/322.html
If you are needing a MMA you want to know his experience with MMA, not how many total surgeries he has performed. Also you want to know the criteria he uses for success rate. If it is a 50% reduction in the RDI his success rate may be inflated. A RDI of 90 before surgery and 45 after surgery is not a success in my book.
Many docs require the RDI to be reduced to below 20 and some below 10 no matter how high it is before surgery to call it a success.
With your severity, one other option, which has the biggest success rate, is having a trach. Not expensive and many people who have had them are very happy. It would be closed during the day, lots of ways to hide it, and open at night. It is also completely reversible. No so with most surgeries.
If you do a sleepnet site search using "hole in the throat gang" you will hear the reaction from posters who have had them.
Best wishes,
Sandman