Nose Sinusitis
- Sinusitis is one of the commonest nasal problem yet it can affect you significantly in your day to day life
- This can present as headache, pressure across your face, blocked nose, nasal discharge, loss of sense of smell and taste, sneezing, feeling low in mood and spirit
- This might be something that starts as a simple cold but then becomes difficult to shake off.
- Quite often this is manage by appropriate medication but sometimes surgery might be required in cases resistant to medical treatment.
- Our ENT specialist has a considerable experience in diagnosing and treating sinusitis and nose problems.
The Sinuses;
- Sinuses are pockets in the nose that helps with warming and humidification of the air that you breath as it reaches your lung.
- Another function of the sinus is to create the resonance to your voices which is why some people may experience abnormal resonance to their voice in addition to the nasal blockage and pain they have with sinusitis.
- These sinuses have small openings and channels that connect into the nasal cavities. When these openings and channels are blocked, pressure builds up resulting into the pain and headache you get with sinusitis.
- The causes of sinusitis are usually allergy and infection. In severe or chronic allergy, a polyp may develop further aggravating your symptoms. Polyps are simple benign swelling that arises from the lining of the nasal cavities and sinuses. They are usually treated with nasal steroid spray but occasionally they may not respond sufficiently to the medical treatment. In such cases, an operation call ‘FESS” might be indicated. FESS stands for Functional endoscopic sinus surgery. The recent advancement in technology has made it possible to access all the sinuses endoscopically via the nostril avoiding scar. This operation is done under a general anaesthesia and usually takes an hour to complete. You will be able to go home on the same day in most cases. Most people will return to work after a week or two.
- Sometimes the nasal blockage might be due to a simple bent nose and this often requires surgical correction through a procedure call septoplasty or septorhinoplasty if it involves cosmetic correction.
- Rarely nasal problems might be due to a growth. Sometimes there might be bleeding and bad smell form the nose from these tumours.