Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 13, 1994                   TAG: 9401130056
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Orange County Register
DATELINE: SANTA ANA, CALIF.                                LENGTH: Medium

LASER SURGERY GIVES SNORERS LIFETIME OF SILENT NIGHTS

But deep down, both he and she have prayed secretly for years that he could stop the wall-rattling sonic booms he produces when he's fast asleep.

Snoring is, banter to the contrary, no joke.

"He was just driving me crazy! It was like sleeping with a drowning man," said Judy Phelps of Irvine. "When he snored, it was just `scccrrrraaaaaaggggghhhhe.' "

Yet Phelps is a happy woman these days. And her husband is a happy man.

David Phelps had his snoring fixed by laser surgery, a new medical procedure that eliminates snoring in about 85 percent of sufferers and reduces its severity in the remaining cases, doctors say.

The procedure works this way: A laser is flashed onto the throat, literally burning into soft palate and uvula, that fleshy bit that hangs down at the back of the mouth. When the burns heal, the flesh has shrunk and is slightly scarred, making it stiff and much less able to produce snores.

Most people with significant snoring problems are middle-aged men who have a thunderous snore that accelerates in ferocity and volume with age, said Dr. Al Aly, an ear, nose and throat specialist in Tustin. He said three of every four of his patients are men.

An estimated 60 percent of men snore, doctors say. About 40 percent of women snore during their lifetimes, but they tend to snore more softly.

No one knows why snoring is largely a male problem, but doctors suspect it's because men have larger soft palates, that fleshy area at the top and back of the throat. The palate loosens with age and, as a person relaxes during sleep, that loose skin vibrates, resonating as mightily as a cathedral organ.

After two laser treatments with Aly, David Phelps reports that his throat has been transformed from a tambourine into a silky-smooth airway.

The laser solution has become an instant hit, doctors say.

The Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic in Irvine has been swamped with more than 160 patients, a spokesman said. Ear, nose and throat specialists like Aly and Dr. H. Christopher Moore of Brea are finding that patient demand for the surgery is high.

For about $2,500 - and two to three office visits about a month apart - snoring is virtually eliminated.

Doctors caution that they aren't using the laser on people with severe apnea, a breathing disorder often accompanied by loud snoring.

"You won't believe the number of women who've whispered to me, `Let me know if it works on your husband,' " Judy Phelps said.

Domestic tranquillity aside, Mary Whitney-Brown, 40, of Malibu, one of the few women with severe snoring problems, said the procedure changed her life. Before the surgery, she thought it was normal to toss, turn and then wake up tired.

"I feel like I am sleeping like a normal person for the first time in my life," she said. "I don't think I ever knew what it was to get a good night's sleep."