Septoplasty is functional nasal surgery that straightens a deviated septum, the wall of cartilage and bone dividing the two nostrils. A deviation can block one or both sides, causing chronic congestion, disturbed sleep and recurrent sinus trouble. Surgeons often reduce enlarged turbinates during the same operation where those are contributing to the blockage.
It is usually a day case, taking thirty to ninety minutes under general anaesthetic or local with sedation, with around a week off desk work. Because it corrects breathing rather than appearance, septoplasty is often covered by provincial health insurance where a purely cosmetic nose operation is not. If you also want the external shape of the nose changed, that is rhinoplasty, and the two are commonly combined as a septorhinoplasty.