Postnasal Drip due to Inferior Turbinate Perforation after Radiofrequency Turbinate Surgery: A Case Report

Abstract

Management of inferior turbinate hypertrophy includes surgical options in case of failure with medical treatment and the main goal of turbinate surgery is to relieve the patient's symptoms of chronic nasal congestion while preserving mucosal surfaces with reduction of the submucosal and bony tissue. In this regard, radiofrequency volumetric tissue reduction has been a thermal technique associated with satisfactory results and fewer side effects. Historical detail on onset, timing, duration, and severity of symptoms and aggravating and relieving factors are important in the differential diagnosis of postnasal drip (PND). Here, we report development of intractable PND due to inferior turbinate perforation after radiofrequency turbinate surgery for the first time in the literature and the successful improvement via removal of pathological anatomic structure under nasal endoscopy–directed surgery in a 35-year-old female patient. The patient had a good functional outcome postoperatively with no further complications or signs of recurrence occurring, to date, within a postoperative follow-up period of 1 year.