Reddit mentions of Having Nasal Surgery? Don't You Become an Empty Nose Victim!

DO NOT DO THIS without doing a lot of research first. It should be a last resort. Turbinate reductions are a lot more dangerous than ENTs admit, and they rarely look into the underlying cause of your problems before doing them (such as allergies.) Before you even consider them, join the Empty Nose Syndrome Facebook group managed by Dr. Houser and ask them some detailed questions about the exact procedure your ENT is contemplating and the reasons why. It has a few hundred people that were told their procedure was perfectly safe (or not even told that it was going to be done) and many are so miserable they're suicidal. Some of them know far more about these procedures than the average ENTs from spending years reading every scrap of research that comes out hoping to find a cure or at least understanding their condition.

I myself had the most conservative and safe type of turbinate reduction done last year, and my ENT told me he'd be even more conservative than usual, and I wish more than anything I could undo it. I've been in horrendous discomfort since, which has only in the last few months improved to "moderately bearable." To this day the dryness and general "off" and painful breathing feeling is extremely distracting and depressing. And there's nothing they can do.

The thing about the turbinates is once you touch them, you can't fix them. So if you end up getting ENS, which your doctor (as mine did) will tell you is impossible to get without a total resection, you're pretty much stuck with it for life, and it's considered a major suicide risk, that's how much fun it is. As a young guy, it's life changing.

I would do a ton of research first, including reading this book, and try all sorts of other remedies such as daily saline rinses using the squeeze bottle and packets.

As a last resort I'd do a septalplasty only without turbinate reduction, and only then would I do a turbinate reduction, and ONLY from an ENT that recognizes the risk of ENS and is more likely to be careful about preserving tissue.