In 1990, the French surgeon Yves-Victor Camami proposed a revolutionary technique using a laser to treat snoring. In the USA, Dr. Jack Coleman in Nashville and Dr. Joseph Crespi in New York in 1992 first used a laser … 

Snoring is vibrations of the soft palate, uvula and pharyngeal walls, which occur when the airway lumen narrows and the tone of the pharyngeal muscles decreases during sleep. In many cases, the immediate cause of snoring is excess tissue in the palate and throat area. The reduction of tissue volume is easily carried out with a laser.

As with any operation, before laser treatment, patients need to undergo a comprehensive medical examination, which includes a study of the patient’s upper respiratory tract and a comprehensive examination of the night’s sleep. 

If the patient really has an indication for surgery (that is, if the cause of the snoring can be eliminated with a laser), the person stops snoring soon after the procedure. Who shouldn’t be hoping for the effect of a laser? Patients with complicated forms of snoring – obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (a disease of stopping breathing during sleep). In this group, the operation yields results in no more than 20% of patients. In addition, the laser will have no effect if the cause of the snoring is for reasons that cannot be eliminated by removing the excess tissue of the palate and pharynx. Such reasons include obesity, curvature of the nasal septum, hypothyroidism, etc. 

Since any throat surgery can affect the voice of the patient, professional singers and lecturers should be wary of laser treatments. The slightest technical error can cause a “side effect”: snoring will decrease, but the voice may change or it may become difficult to talk for a long time. For this reason, you need to choose the best clinics and the best doctors involved in laser snoring treatment.

As it became obvious to you, you need to treat snoring only with the participation of a specialist somnologist. Avoid going to clinics that promise to stop snoring with a laser in one session. In these centers, you will not be properly examined, they will not establish the exact causes of snoring. This means that the likelihood of getting a good result for you will not be so great – about 50 to 50. But you are interested in guaranteed getting rid of snoring, right? If yes, then your road is to a sleep doctor.