BOAS Surgery
Helping resolve airway issues in brachycephalic breeds.
At Family Pet Clinic of Redondo Beach, we perform multiple surgeries to help with Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS). We specifically offer both stenotic nares surgery and elongated soft palate resection surgery (aka staphylectomy) for brachycephalic breeds.
Please carefully read the document entitled “What to Expect Before and After Airway Corrective Surgery” which is linked below.
Stenotic Nares Surgery
When performing this surgery we use a #11 surgical blade to cut a deep wedge of tissue from the lateral nasal folds. We place a few absorbable sutures that will fall out on their own in a few weeks. The surgery sites often look a little “crusty” and lose their pigment for a few weeks and then re-pigment again once the sutures fall out. The surgery site is sometimes itchy so we recommend a cone for the first 2 weeks or so until the nose is no longer itchy.
Before - Stenotic Nares Surgery |
After - Stenotic Nares Surgery |
Elongated Soft Palate Resection Surgery
For the elongated soft palate resection surgery (“staphylectomy”) we use a radiosurgery cutting device—the excess soft palate tissue is removed via high-frequency sound waves, which allows for minimal anesthesia time and almost no bleeding. We place 3-5 tiny sutures in the oral mucosa which seems to hasten healing time. The recovery is apparently almost “instantaneous” and the dogs go home ready to eat and drink.
Everted laryngeal saccules are grasped and excised at the base. Epinephrine on Q-tips is used to control the tiny amount of bleeding if present. These saccules only exist as air-filled “balloons” inside the laryngeal opening because of extreme negative airway pressure. Saccules don’t actually exist until the patient has spent weeks/months/years struggling against their nostrils and palates.
Bulldog Breathing Struggles Before Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS) Surgery
The video below shows the struggles that a bulldog goes through when they are born with tight/narrow nostrils ("stenotic nares") and also an overlong ("elongated") soft palate. This is called Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome ("BOAS") and these congenital defects lead to severe exercise intolerance, heat intolerance, heat stroke, vomiting, regurgitation, sleep apnea, and aspiration pneumonia. I am very experienced at performing the surgeries necessary to allow a bulldog to live a better life.
The video below was taken a few hours after surgery. Dr. Daffner performed three airway corrective surgeries on this pup, including stenotic nares repair, overlong soft palate resection, and everted laryngeal saccules. (He was neutered too!) He recovered very quickly and is breathing dramatically better than he was before surgery. I have transformed his life and this makes me a very happy veterinarian.
If you have questions about whether either of these surgeries is right for your pet, call us at (310) 376-0072.
