Doctor-Reviewed Health Guides: Conditions, Procedures & Health News

Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is a hands-on therapy in which a trained physician uses gentle pressure and manipulation to ease pain in muscles, fascia, connective tissue, joints and bones. It is most often used for lower back pain, neck pain and migraines. Mild soreness for a day or two is common, but severe pain is not normal.

Orthodontics is the branch of dentistry that diagnoses and treats malocclusion, or a bad bite, using braces, clear aligners, retainers and palate expanders. Straighter, better-fitting teeth are easier to clean, which lowers the risk of cavities and gum disease. Children should have a first check by age 7, and treatment lasts from under one year to two years or longer.

Tattoo removal is a medical procedure that removes permanent tattoo ink from the skin, most often with lasers that break ink into tiny particles the immune system clears. Surgery, dermabrasion and chemical peels are other options. Laser removal often takes six to 12 sessions. Possible risks include scarring and infection, so removal belongs with a qualified provider, not at home.

Osseous surgery is a gum disease treatment that reduces the deep pockets around teeth where plaque and bacteria hide. A periodontist folds back the gums, cleans the tooth roots, and reshapes the damaged bone, usually in 30 to 60 minutes. It is used for moderate to severe periodontitis, and recovery averages two to four weeks.

Oxygen therapy is a treatment that delivers extra oxygen to the lungs through a nasal cannula or mask from a tank or machine when breathing alone does not supply enough. It is used for conditions such as COPD, pneumonia and heart failure, during surgery and in emergencies. Chest pain or severe breathlessness while on oxygen needs emergency care.

An ovarian cystectomy is surgery that removes a cyst — a fluid-filled sac — from the ovary. It is advised when a cyst is large, painful, possibly cancerous, or keeps coming back. Most surgeons use keyhole (laparoscopic) surgery, with about two to three weeks of recovery; open surgery takes four to six weeks.

Orthodontic headgear is a removable dental device that uses gentle pressure on a child's teeth and still-growing jaws to correct bad bites such as overjet, overbite and underbite. Most children wear it 12 to 14 hours a day, usually after school and overnight, for about six months to a few years, with regular orthodontist adjustments.

Tarsorrhaphy is a procedure that keeps one or both eyelids partly or fully closed so a damaged or exposed eye surface can heal. It treats problems such as incomplete eyelid closure, exposure keratitis, corneal burns and nerve-damaged corneas. Methods include tape, glue, stitches, botulinum toxin or surgery, and most forms are reversible.

An open partial nephrectomy is surgery that removes only the diseased or damaged part of a kidney through a flank incision, then rebuilds the kidney so it can keep filtering blood. It often treats kidney cancer. The operation takes three to four hours, the hospital stay is two to four days, and most people fully recover within 12 weeks.

Oral hygiene is the daily practice of keeping your mouth clean and disease-free through brushing at least twice a day, flossing once daily and regular dental exams and cleanings. It prevents cavities, gum disease and bad breath, and gum disease is linked to heart disease and stroke. See a dentist for bleeding gums, loose teeth or tooth pain.

An oophorectomy is surgery to remove one or both ovaries, most often to treat conditions such as endometriosis, ovarian cysts, ovarian torsion or ovarian cancer, or to lower cancer risk in people with BRCA gene changes. Removing both ovaries starts menopause right away. Most people return to normal routines within two to six weeks.

Off-pump bypass surgery is a type of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) done while the heart keeps beating, without a heart-lung machine. A surgeon steadies the heart with a device and attaches a blood vessel graft around a blocked coronary artery. It treats severe coronary artery disease. Get emergency care for chest pain that does not go away after surgery.

Organ donation and transplantation is the process of removing a healthy organ, or part of one, from a donor and placing it in a person whose own organ has failed. Donors can be living or deceased. Recipients take lifelong anti-rejection medicine, and full recovery from surgery often takes two to six months.

Oral appliance therapy for sleep apnea is a treatment that uses a dental mouthpiece, worn during sleep, to pull the lower jaw or tongue forward and keep the airway open. It mainly suits adults with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea who cannot use CPAP, and it does not treat central sleep apnea.

An omentectomy is surgery to remove part or all of the omentum, a layer of fatty tissue and blood vessels covering the stomach and intestines. It is mainly done during cancer surgery to remove cancer that has spread there, help stage cancer, or ease abdominal fluid buildup. Recovery ranges from a few weeks to up to eight weeks.

Occupational therapy (OT) is a treatment that helps people overcome physical, emotional and social challenges so they can perform daily tasks as independently and safely as possible. It is used after injuries, surgeries or trauma and for chronic conditions and disabilities. A therapist assesses your goals, builds custom interventions and adjusts them as you progress.

Orchiopexy is surgery that moves a testicle into the scrotum and stitches it in place. It treats undescended testicles, ideally between 6 and 18 months of age, and testicular torsion, which needs emergency surgery. The operation takes about an hour under general anesthesia, and most patients go home the same day.

An opioid antagonist is a medicine that attaches to opioid receptors without switching them on, which blocks or reverses the effects of opioids. Naloxone and nalmefene reverse overdoses and restore breathing, naltrexone treats opioid and alcohol use disorder, and methylnaltrexone eases opioid-induced constipation. Given promptly, naloxone can save the life of someone having an opioid overdose.

Monovision is a vision correction technique that sets one eye to focus on distant objects and the other to focus on close-up objects. It is mainly used for presbyopia or after cataract surgery and can be done with contact lenses, laser surgery, or an artificial lens. A trial run is recommended first because not everyone adapts.

An occipital nerve block is an injection of anesthetic medicine, sometimes with a steroid, near an occipital nerve at the back of the head. It can temporarily ease pain from occipital neuralgia, migraine, cluster headache and neck injuries. It takes about five minutes, relief often starts within 20–30 minutes, and results vary between people.

Oral immunotherapy (OIT) is a food allergy treatment in which a person eats tiny, gradually increasing daily amounts of the food they are allergic to under an allergist's supervision. The goal is desensitization, so an accidental bite is less likely to cause a severe reaction. Its main risks are anaphylaxis and eosinophilic esophagitis, so an epinephrine auto-injector is always required.

Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made treatments built from many identical copies of one antibody that recognizes a single, specific target. They help the immune system fight disease or block proteins that cause it. They mainly treat cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, and are given by IV infusion or injection under the skin. Seek urgent care for any unexpected reaction.

MonaLisa Touch is a fractional CO2 laser treatment for thinning and dryness of the vaginal lining caused by low estrogen, a condition called genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). Done in a provider's office in about five minutes without anesthesia, it usually takes three sessions six weeks apart and may ease dryness and painful sex.

Myringoplasty is a surgery that closes a hole in a ruptured eardrum by placing a graft over it. Doctors may recommend it when a perforation hasn't healed within three months, or with repeated ear infections, hearing loss, or trauma. It takes 30 to 90 minutes, most people go home the same day, and recovery takes one to two weeks.