Pillar surgery

[<MoxieBoy>]

Please let me know how satisfied you are if you had Pillar surgery.

[PaulY]

Very. It reduced my apnea by 40% by eliminating the palatal component. My apnea has a 60% lingual component which is not addressed, of course, by the pillar implants.

For the remaining 60%, I use a dental appliance to acheive an AHI of 0.3

You can see a very detailed description of my experience if you search the forum for the keyword "pillar".

-PaulY

[ February 22, 2005: Message edited by: PaulY ]

[PaulY]

PS - it's not really "surgery" - more like a quick 10-minute in-office "procedure" while you are fully awake.

[Mr Mango]

Pauly have you ever been on CPAP

[PaulY]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mr Mango:
Pauly have you ever been on CPAP

---

Hi Mr. Mango,

Yes, I still have my C-FLEX machine. I faithfully used it every night until my dental appliance arrived 2 months later. Then about 4 months after the dental appliance came I got the pillar implants.

-PaulY

[<Josh>]

Hi Paul,
How is your dental treating you? Any soreness etc? I myself didn't use Dental Appliance after experiencing pain. I am curious how is your bite so far? Wasn't your extension adjustments was done to the max 4mm or something?

[Sleepy Stoboy]

I am satisfied with my results, but you have to adjust your expectations depending on the level of apnea you have.

I went in with an RDI of 35, so I was outside of the boundaries of Restore's clinical test group. Those in Restore's test group with higher RDIs experienced a reduction in apnea, but not a "cure" (less than 5 RDI) at 90 days. My test results should be out this week to show my 90 day post pillar results.

However, I know that after I had the implants I was sleeping better. Still not where I needed to be, so I also added a TAP dental device. I'm starting to get close to normalized sleep now about 4 weeks after using the TAP.

So, yes, I was pleased with the results. I sure do wish it could have been "one and done" as treatments go, but I think depending on your situation, you need to be realistic as to what pillar will accomplish. While most people (approx 80%) have their airway blocked in some way by a soft palate, the majority of people do not have ONLY a palatal blockage. This is probably why we have seen such erratic success rates for UPPP surgery.

If and when a rear of tongue surgery evolves that is as simple and reversible as pillar is, we could have a great "one-two punch" in treating apnea in a great number of people.

If you're interested, as Paul says, search on pillar and learn as much as you can. Already there is a lot of misinformation out there (both pro and con). And many well meaning people are still comparing pillar to UPPP, and it is suffering some guilt by association.

[Mr Mango]

Thanks PaulY

Do you sleep better with the appliance then on C-Flex

[PaulY]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mr Mango:
Thanks PaulY

Do you sleep better with the appliance then on C-Flex

---

Hi Mr. Mango,

A little bit in the sense that I don't have that annoying "mouth leak" which caused awakenings (I was using the Breeze/Nasal Pillows.)

Still plan on keeping my C-Flex in case for some reason the current treatment modale stops working.

-PaulY

[PaulY]

quote:

---

Originally posted by <Josh>:
Hi Paul,
How is your dental treating you? Any soreness etc? I myself didn't use Dental Appliance after experiencing pain. I am curious how is your bite so far? Wasn't your extension adjustments was done to the max 4mm or something?

---

Hi Josh,

No more soreness in the jaw - it's gotten used to the stretching. I don't know how many mm's 15 turns makes, but so far no significant bite change (just a little bit.) It's been exactly 1 year since I've been wearing it.

-PaulY

[Guest]

I had the procedure in Nov. Had to go back 4 times due to cysts.

3 months later, still snoring and waking myself up. Will not even bother to have another sleep study done, I can't sleep without CPAP. So for me it was a failure.
Rick