There will be times when your ENT problem can be resolved by non-surgical means eg medicine , apparatus etc and there will be times where it is not working or is not an option at all at the very onset.
This is when you will be advised surgery and we advise patients to always get a second opinion even if we are the one who are offering surgery because:
- Surgery is something permanent and therefore should only be done if it is the only resort available
- You want to make sure that the surgery is warranted – to be sure of this, you as a patient must do your homework and ask the right questions. So, if the second opinion is the same as the first then you know it is warranted. If there is a difference, then you need to ask both the first and second specialist the reasons for their different advise.
- Surgery if done for the wrong reasons or by an inexperienced specialist can result in life-long suffering for the patient.