The Specialist:
As the director of the sleep surgery program at
Mount Sinai, Dr. Fred Lin treats patients who have complicated cases of
sleep apnea that require surgery. Lin works with more than 500 patients
a year with sleep apnea.
Who’s at risk:
About 50% of Americans snore while they’re sleeping. And for millions of people, that snoring is a symptom of sleep apnea.
“Sleep apnea is a form of sleep-disordered breathing in which the
airway becomes narrowed as the tissues and muscles surrounding it
relax,” says Dr. Fred Lin, director of the sleep surgery program at
Mount Sinai. “The brain corrects for this suffocation by jerking the
patient between deep sleep and light sleep, and even momentary
awakening, though the individual doesn’t necessarily remember it.” Some
18-20 million Americans are living with sleep apnea, though doctors
estimate that 80-90% of them remain undiagnosed.
