Ideal Duration of Nasal Packing after Septoplasty

Objective: Septoplasty is a corrective surgical procedure for nasal septal deviation, and nasal packing is usually applied after septoplasty to avoid some complications. The objective of this study was to evaluate the complications and subjective discomfort of 24-hour nasal packing compared to that of 48-hour nasal packing in patients undergoing septoplasty. Method: A total of 149 patients were divided into two groups according to time of nasal packing removal. Nasal packings were removed 24 (group 1) and 48 (group 2) hours after septoplasty. Patients with complications were recorded, and verbal analog pain scores (VAS) of all patients were calculated after surgical procedure. Results: Postoperative hemorrhage rates were 17.5% in the first group and 6.6% in the second group. Hemorrhages in the first group were mostly reactionary, and only two of them required repacking. None of the patients in the second group required repacking. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups depending on hemorrhage. First day mean VAS scores were similar in both groups. Second day mean VAS score of the second group was higher compared to first day VAS scores of both groups. Conclusion: According to our study, routine use of 48-hour nasal packing after septoplasty is not necessary. We observed that prolonged nasal packing increases the postoperative pain significantly and has no significant beneficial effect on postoperative complications except in patients with hypertension.