I HATE WAITING when I have an appointment. I drone the entire time I sit in the lobby waiting for my name to be called, but I have learned that sometimes waiting is worth it; this was one of those times.
Dr. Kirkham is fantastic. He's gentle, warm, and well-spoken. He doesn't hustle you through like cattle. He spent a good amount of time, even though it was the end of the business day. He was also the first doctor to put a name to what I have been dealing with since childhood.
Initially, I thought that I had a small and fixable deviation to my septum. Although he did say the septum was moved a little more to the right, that wasn't my issue at all.
I've had trouble since childhood with a dry nose, nose bleeds, getting oxygen in my left nostril, and overall just breathing which makes activities a bit of a hassle, even just speaking. Of course, the snoring is a tad bit of an annoyance - thank goodness I don't have the big bear kind of snores though, they're delicate. :P I don't have asthma and I've been to a very expensive allergist. Yes, I do have allergies to pretty much everything in the air and on land, the solutions she prescribed did not help my stuffy, dry, dripping nose. It didn't help the sinus pressure, either.
What I do have is a rare condition known as "empty nose syndrome", where the turbinates in my nose (specifically, my left nostril) are missing and the ones that are there, are underdeveloped. This generally occurs after nasal surgery of some sort where the turbinates are removed for whatever reason. However, in my case, I've never had surgery and in his words; "He could drive a truck through my left nostril."
Sadly, my only solution to this problem is to deal with it for life. Rhinoplasty can help by narrowing my nostrils but the effects may not be significant and I can use a special spray called Nasamist Hypertonic to try and close up some of that gap, but that is it. Other than that, I cannot use ANY sort of allergy or nasal mist because it will worsen it. That was really great to hear considering the allergies I do have.
It was a bummer to find out that I likely won't find real relief from the issue, but he was so knowledgeable and articulate. He was the first doctor to take my trouble seriously.
I 110% recommend Dr. Kirkham to anyone looking for an ENT specialist. He's a fantastic doctor and a wonderful person. read more