Chris Supalla: Severe Breathing Distress After Septoplasty and Turbinate Microablation
Chris Supalla’s family described a rapid and devastating decline after nasal surgery, with profound breathing discomfort, loss of normal airflow sensation and severe sleep disruption. His case later became part of a wider public discussion about Empty Nose Syndrome, informed consent and recognition of postoperative complications.
Video About Christopher Supalla
A “Plastic Bag” Sensation After Nasal Surgery
Chris Supalla had been tossing and turning with a stuffy nose when several doctors advised him that a relatively simple nasal operation could improve his breathing and sleep. According to his mother, Mary Supalla, the outcome was dramatically different from what the family expected.
Mary told The Post that Chris was “gasping for breath” and said it felt as though a plastic bag were over his head.
Chris was 32. Three months after surgery, he was lost following a final crisis.
In his final written message, Chris apologized to his family, said the suffering had become too great and wrote that his nose felt so empty that he could no longer feel anything at all. He ended by telling them that he loved them.
The source material also preserves a separate practical note Chris left for his family so that first responders, rather than relatives, would recover him. The wording reflects how strongly he wanted to shield his family from further trauma.
Dr. Eugene Kern and Growing Recognition of Empty Nose Syndrome
Nearly 30 years after Empty Nose Syndrome was first identified, the article reported that the condition was gaining greater recognition. It noted the publication of a medical textbook on ENS by Dr. Eugene Kern, professor of otorhinolaryngology at the University at Buffalo.
In the early 1990s, while working at the Mayo Clinic, Kern encountered two postoperative patients treated elsewhere who told him that they experienced a sensation of suffocation with every breath. Both were later lost after severe crises.
Other patients have compared the experience to drowning, smothering or being waterboarded. Kern described these patients as “nasal cripples” and emphasized that many can barely sleep because they repeatedly wake with a sensation that the body is not breathing, even though respiration continues. Mouth breathing may not solve the sensory problem.
Kern said he wanted his book to shine a light on an area in which people had suffered greatly, adding that he had personally witnessed the suffering.
The article describes ENS as a potential complication after nasal surgery affecting the turbinates — cylindrical structures that help regulate incoming air. Turbinate reduction may be performed together with septoplasty for a deviated septum or as part of other nasal surgery.
David Troutman and the ENS Support Community
David Troutman of Indiana told the newspaper that he had no idea what a turbinate was when he underwent surgery for sleep apnea six years earlier and had simply trusted his doctor.
After surgery, Troutman described himself as exhausted, unfocused and endlessly pacing. His condition became so concerning that his boss drove him to the emergency department.
“I was a shell of myself,” he said. “My personality was just gone.”
Troutman, then 54, became a moderator of an Empty Nose Syndrome Facebook group and described the group as being filled with difficult stories. He expected his own struggle to be lifelong and said there had been no relief or reprieve.
The article reported that the Facebook group had around 3,700 members and had recorded 14 tragic losses over the preceding six years. Those numbers are community-compiled reports rather than population-level incidence data.
The condition remains difficult to predict. Incidence is unknown, and doctors do not yet know why some patients tolerate turbinate tissue removal while others develop severe symptoms. A small number of physicians in the United States attempt treatments that may include intensive moisturization or procedures designed to alter nasal airflow.
Kern told The Post that turbinate removal can produce severe post-traumatic neurogenic-type pain. He also noted that some people may have enough compensatory functional capacity to remain symptom-free for two, five or even ten years, and that there is no single clinical test that fully determines nasal function.
Chris’s Septoplasty, Microablation and Questions About ENS Risk
Chris worked in accounting and, according to his mother, consulted three doctors before undergoing surgery.
He underwent septoplasty and microablation. His doctors reportedly said that only about one millimeter of turbinate tissue had been removed.
Mary Supalla said Chris specifically asked about Empty Nose Syndrome because he was worried about it. The doctors were familiar with ENS but reassured him that they had not seen it in their own patients.
The Supalla Family’s Requests to Oregon Health & Science University
After Chris’s passing, his parents asked Oregon Health & Science University to warn future patients about the possible risk of Empty Nose Syndrome.
The source repeats this point twice, emphasizing how strongly the family pursued the issue: after Chris’s passing, Mary and Brian Supalla requested that OHSU warn patients about ENS.
Mary Supalla said that the potential complications were so severe and life-altering that patients deserved to know about them. She described Chris as unable to breathe, unable to sleep and unable to function normally.
OHSU’s patient advocate initially wrote that the institution would educate doctors, medical students and staff. The advocate also wrote that although the institution could not clinically substantiate an ENS diagnosis, it believed the experience Chris had been describing.
Several months later, after the family again requested that patients be warned, the patient advocate wrote that OHSU had not found that Chris had ENS and indicated that there would be no further communication on the matter.
In a statement to The Post, authorized by the Supalla family, OHSU extended condolences and said that Chris had specifically asked about Empty Nose Syndrome before surgery. According to OHSU, his clinical team discussed ENS with him as part of the informed-consent process.
OHSU also stated that after surgery its clinicians could not clinically substantiate an ENS diagnosis. The institution said its clinicians discuss ENS when relevant to the procedure or to a patient’s questions and that, at the family’s request, information shared by the Supallas had been incorporated into teaching and academic processes for continual improvement.
Chris Supalla’s Messages and Additional Archived Material
Chris documented his rapid decline in a series of text messages with his mother, Mary. The preserved material records his struggle to understand and adapt to severe breathing difficulties after nasal surgery.
Supporting Documentation
Additional collected material concerning Christopher Supalla, the family’s account and Empty Nose Syndrome is available in the document below.
