Submucosal Minimally Invasive Lingual Excision (SMILE) for Obstructive Sleep Apnea: surgical technique and personal experience

Abstract

Submucosal minimally invasive lingual excision (SMILE) is a technique for treating tongue base obstruction in Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. While invasive tongue base procedures are mucosal destructive, leading to significant postoperative pain, SMILE technique provides a mucosal sparing approach while allowing aggressive tongue base tissue removal. SMILE technique is a version of the of tongue base reduction using coblation through a midline lingual incision approach. Coblation technology removes hypertrophic tongue base musculature tissue at a low temperature, resulting in less tissue destruction and edema. Side effects of bleeding, edema, pain, infection, and dysfunction are minimized, and pilot results of SMILE surgery are favorable.