How Long Do NEUROMARK Results Last?

Dr. Franklyn R. Gergits, MBA, DO, FAOCO · Board-Certified Otolaryngologist · Fellowship-Trained Otolaryngic Allergist · 30+ Years of Experience · Clinical Focus in Rhinology and Airway Disorders

Short answer: Years. When patients ask me this, that is the word I use. The published data on temperature-controlled radiofrequency treatment of the posterior nasal nerves shows overall nasal symptom scores improved by roughly 58 percent at two years, runny nose down about 56 percent at three years, and relief still present at the three-year mark where the follow-up currently ends. What I see in my own patients matches that. But durable is not the same as permanent, and I say so up front — because if something is still driving the problem underneath, symptoms can find their way back. The good news is that this is a nerve that was turned down, not cut out. It can be treated again.

This is the question patients ask right after they start feeling better, and it is the right question to ask.

NEUROMARK treats the posterior nasal nerves — the nerves that tell your nose to run. When they fire too much, you get the constant drip, the runny nose that no antihistamine touches, the drainage down the back of the throat. The procedure uses temperature-controlled radiofrequency energy to turn those nerves down.

One thing to be clear about before the numbers, because it matters: everything below refers to temperature-controlled radiofrequency specifically. There is more than one way to treat these nerves. Freezing is another, and its published recurrence pattern is different. Do not take these durability figures and apply them to a different technology.

So how long does turning them down last?

What the Data Actually Shows

The published follow-up runs out to three years. Not further — that is where the data currently ends — and it holds up all the way there.

First, how much symptoms drop. In the pivotal trial, overall nasal symptom scores improved by about 58 percent at two years, and the runny nose specifically dropped by about 56 percent at three years. Cough fell by 69 percent. Post-nasal drainage fell by half. Quality-of-life scores improved and stayed improved through the full three years.

Second, and this is a different measure, how many people respond at all. Counting anyone who improved by at least 30 percent, roughly three-quarters were responding at three months. By long-term follow-up, that number had climbed into the low eighties.

Those two numbers answer different questions — how much better, and how many people. I keep them separate because patients often hear one and assume the other.

The second one is the part that surprised people. Treatments are supposed to fade. This one improved.

Why Would Results Get Better, Not Worse?

I have a theory about this, and it matches what I see in the office.

The posterior nasal nerve is not one clean wire. There is a main trunk that comes through at a known location, and then there are smaller branches that exit through separate little openings further back in the nasal cavity and toward the nasopharynx — the space behind the nose.

When we treat, we are hitting the root exit of that main trunk. But we are also reaching the peripheral terminal branches — the smaller ones coming through those other openings, more distant, further back.

Treating both is likely why the benefit builds instead of fading. You are not just quieting the main line. You are quieting the network it feeds.

We definitely see the improved symptoms over time. The rising numbers in the study match what walks through my door.

What Happens When It Does Not Work?

Not everyone responds, and some people respond and then lose it. I want to be straight about that, because a patient deciding on a procedure deserves to know the failure modes.

Honestly, it can be all of the above. Here is what I actually think about.

Did the energy reach the nerve? We do not get an exact map of where these nerves are. We treat anatomy that is consistent in most people but not identical in everyone.

Was there too much numbing fluid? To make the procedure comfortable, we inject local anesthetic under the lining. If that fluid lifts the surface too far away from the nerves underneath, the energy may not reach its target the way it should.

Were the nerves in an unusual place? Some people have branches that take a different route than the textbook. If a branch exits somewhere unexpected, treating the expected location will not reach it.

Is something else triggering the nerves? This one matters most, and it is the reason I ask about reflux. Laryngopharyngeal reflux — silent reflux, the kind without heartburn — can keep the back of the nose irritated. So can the mechanism I have been researching for years, which I call Posterior Sinonasal Syndrome, where pepsin from that reflux reaches the posterior nasal lining and keeps it inflamed.

If something is still irritating those nerves, you can turn them down and they will be pushed right back up. The procedure did its job. The trigger never went away.

Can It Be Done Again?

In my view, yes.

This is not a surgery where a nerve is cut. Nothing is removed. Radiofrequency turns down an overactive nerve — it modulates it rather than destroying it. So in my thinking, if it needs to be repeated down the road, it can be.

I tell patients that before we ever schedule anything. In time, this may need to be done again, and that is especially true if we have not found and treated whatever is driving the overactivity in the first place. Undiagnosed or untreated reflux is the most common example.

Nobody should reach year four and feel blindsided. That conversation belongs at the beginning.

Durable Is Not the Same as Permanent

Here is how I put it to patients, and I think the framing matters.

We have real success with symptom reduction. The relief is meaningful and it lasts years. And yes, symptoms could come back.

But if they do, we are not starting over. We will have time to work on the other pieces — being more aggressive with both the front and the back of the nasal cavity, treating what else is contributing, going after the reasons the symptoms exist in the first place. Every one of those is another reason to expect the relief to hold longer next time.

That is a different conversation than “this might wear off.” It is closer to: this buys you years, and we use those years to fix what is underneath.

Patients in Scottsdale, Phoenix, and across Maricopa County who come to me after years of a runny nose nobody could stop are not usually looking for a cure in one visit. They want to know somebody has a plan past the first step. That is the plan.

People Also Ask

Is NEUROMARK permanent?
No, and I would not want a patient to hear that it is. It is durable — years of meaningful relief, with published follow-up to three years, which is where the data currently ends. But it turns a nerve down rather than removing it, and if something is still irritating that nerve, symptoms can return.

Do these numbers apply to other nerve procedures?
No. Everything here refers to temperature-controlled radiofrequency. Other approaches to the same nerves, including freezing, have their own published results and their own recurrence patterns. Ask specifically which technology any durability figure came from.

Why would my results improve after the first few months?
The published data shows exactly that pattern. The likely reason is that treatment reaches both the main nerve trunk and the smaller terminal branches further back in the nasal cavity. Quieting the whole network, rather than one line, seems to build over time.

What if my runny nose comes back?
Then we look for what is driving it. Reflux is the usual suspect, particularly the silent kind without heartburn. The procedure can also be repeated in my view, since nothing was cut or removed.

Will treating reflux make the procedure last longer?
That is my clinical reasoning, though it has not been proven in a trial. If reflux is what keeps pushing those nerves into overactivity, then treating it removes the pressure that would otherwise undo the result.

Want to Understand More

→ What Is NEUROMARK — and Could It Stop Your Chronic Runny Nose?

→ What Are the Risks of the NEUROMARK Procedure?

→ Will My Insurance Cover the NEUROMARK Procedure?

→ Could Silent Reflux Be Causing My Drainage — Without Heartburn?

→ What Causes Chronic Post-Nasal Drip — and How Do You Stop It?

→ The Airway & Sinus Wellness Review

About the Author

Dr. Franklyn R. Gergits, MBA, DO, FAOCO is a Board-Certified Otolaryngologist and Fellowship-Trained Otolaryngic Allergist with a Clinical Focus in Rhinology and Airway Disorders and over 30 years of clinical experience, first at Northeast Ear Nose and Throat Associates in Berwick and Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and now in Scottsdale. He is the founder of the Sinus & Allergy Wellness Center of North Scottsdale, where he performs in-office balloon sinuplasty, turbinate reduction, NEUROMARK® posterior nasal nerve ablation (Neurent Medical, FDA-cleared radiofrequency ablation system), and Eustachian tube dilation under local anesthesia. He performed the first balloon sinuplasty in Pennsylvania and earned dual Entellus Centers of Excellence certifications. Dr. Gergits is the originator of the Posterior Sinonasal Syndrome (PSS) hypothesis — a clinical framework identifying pepsin-mediated posterior nasal mucosal injury as an upstream driver of chronic rhinosinusitis. Preprints available at Preprints.org (PSS: DOI 10.20944/preprints202603.0858.v1 · Mucosal Liquid Layer: DOI 10.20944/preprints202605.0727.v1). ORCID: 0009-0000-4893-6332.

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This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Individual results from any procedure vary, and durability figures cited here come from published study populations rather than a guarantee for any single patient. Whether NEUROMARK or any other treatment is appropriate for you depends on your own examination and history. Please consult a qualified physician for individualized recommendations.