Surgery of the swelling bodies of the nose (Conchotomy)

The clam bones are some small bony lamellae that emanate from the side walls of the nose and are covered with mucous membrane. The clam bones and the mucous membrane have a very large blood supply, so the mucous membrane is constantly moist and warm so that the clam bones can moisten and warm the air that passes by before it reaches the lungs.

In some cases, the clam bones may begin to grow in thickness and size. This can be seen e.g. by a crookedness of the nasal septum, where the conch bone on the side where there is the most space begins to grow. In other cases, it is due to an allergy to pollen or airborne antigens - and sometimes they just grow for no particular reason, so that the clam bones fill the entire nose and block the air passage. If this happens, the symptoms will typically worsen when the patients lie down - and typically the patients will experience a huge improvement in the air passage when using over-the-counter nasal sprays, such as Otrivin or Zymelin, to which many therefore become addicted.

The goal of the operation is to reduce the size of the nose's concha so that there is more space for air to pass through the nose. This is done under full anesthesia by the surgeon making a small incision and removing part of both bone and mucous membrane from the lower clam bone. The mucous membrane is then put back, so that the clam bone is now reduced in size. Typically, only the lower concha bone is operated on, as the path of the air from the opening of the nose to the front and further back takes place precisely at the base of the nose.