Balloon sinuplasty allows the surgeon to dilate a blocked sinus, creating open space, which allows the sinus to drain normally. The surgeon uses a flexible endoscope with a light to guide the insertion of a thin wire. The wire is then moved through the nasal passages toward the opening of the blocked sinus.
Healthcare providers use general or local anesthesia when they do sinus surgery. General anesthesia means you're unconscious and don't feel any pain. People who have local anesthesia may feel pressure during surgery but typically don't feel any pain. They may have mild to moderate pain for about a week after surgery.
Your ENT specialist may recommend a nasal/sinus irrigation to open you your nasal passages if you have allergies, sinusitis (sinus infection), or a viral URI.
Most sinus infections can clear up on their own, or with the help of antibiotics if they're caused by a bacterial infection. Saline sprays, topical nasal steroids, and over-the-counter medicines often bring relief.
Symptoms of Sinus Drainage
Some of these symptoms include: fever, headache, pressure in the ear, reduced sense of taste and smell, coughing, bad breath, and fatigue. Symptoms that are closely related to sinus drainage are most commonly thick drainage from the nose or down the throat.
Infections in your respiratory tract — most commonly colds — can inflame and thicken your sinus membranes and block mucus drainage. These infections can be caused by viruses or bacteria. Allergies such as hay fever. Inflammation that occurs with allergies can block your sinuses.
Balloon sinuplasty allows the surgeon to dilate a blocked sinus, creating open space, which allows the sinus to drain normally. The surgeon uses a flexible endoscope with a light to guide the insertion of a thin wire. The wire is then moved through the nasal passages toward the opening of the blocked sinus.
Nasal congestion causes your nose to feel stuffed up and blocked and occurs when fluid gets trapped in your blocked sinuses. Having this congestion interferes with your ability to breathe well. Your sense of smell and taste may also be affected due to nasal congestion.
Acute sinusitis lasts less than a month. Your symptoms may go away by themselves within about 10 days, but it may take up to three or four weeks.
Mucolytics, such as guaifenesin, are chemical compounds that can help loosen and clear mucus from the nasal passages, sinuses, and lungs. They dissolve chemical bonds in mucus, making it thinner and helping it to drain more easily. Mucolytics are taken by mouth.
Outcome. The results after FESS are good, with most studies reporting an 80 to 90 percent rate of success.
Who may need endoscopic sinus surgery? Endoscopic sinus surgery can help people who experience nasal congestion, pain, drainage, difficulty breathing, loss of sense of smell (anosmia) or other symptoms due to: Sinusitis (persistent or chronic sinus infections) Nasal polyps.
Blowing the nose can worsen the feeling of congestion due to pressure build-up within the nostrils, which may shoot up the mucus into the sinuses instead of ejection through the nose.
The mucus plug is usually: Clear, off-white or slightly bloody (red, brown or pink) in color. Stringy, sticky and jelly-like in texture. 1 to 2 inches in length.
Call 911 immediately or go to the nearest emergency room (ER) if you have any of the following symptoms of sinus infection: Intense sweating. Horrible chills. Inability to breathe.
A warm compress on your nose and forehead may help relieve the pressure in your sinuses. Rinse out your nasal passages. Use a specially designed squeeze bottle, saline canister or neti pot to rinse your nasal passages. This home remedy, called nasal lavage, can help clear your sinuses.
If you feel that you are blocked up but are not really producing mucus, then this is more indicative of a physical abnormality, such as nasal polyps or a deviated septum. It is quite common for people to complain of having a blocked nose on one side.
Most people feel normal in 1 to 2 months. You will have to visit your doctor regularly for 3 to 4 months after your surgery. Your doctor will check to see that your sinuses are healing well.
In the presence of a sinus infection, there is a small risk of developing a more complicated infection like an abscess or meningitis. All operations in the sinuses and nose carry a rare chance (about 0.1%) of creating a leak of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).