Sinusitis

What is Sinusitis? Symptoms and Treatment Methods

Sinusitis is a disease that occurs when the spaces inside the facial bones fill with inflamed tissue. It often develops after a cold. It can cause headaches in the forehead, neck or face. It may be accompanied by dark green nasal discharge, nasal congestion, smell and taste disturbances. Children may also complain of loss of appetite, cough, nausea and vomiting.

Treatment Methods

Acute sinusitis can be largely treated without the need for antibiotics with early diagnosis. If the infection is of bacterial origin and does not go away, antibiotic treatment is applied. If no benefit is seen from medication and the process lasts for 3 months or longer, we diagnose chronic sinusitis.

Surgical method can be chosen in chronic sinusitis. Depending on the patient's condition, Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS) or Balloon Sinoplasty surgical technique is applied for chronic sinusitis. The experience and knowledge of the surgeon is very important in these techniques, which are generally called Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS). The aim of Endoscopic Sinus Surgery is to open blocked sinus canals, remove inflamed tissues and polyps, in other words, to provide healthy ventilation. While I have been performing endoscopic surgery to open blocked canals for many years, I have recently been performing Balloon Sinoplasty especially for the forehead and skull base sinuses. Balloon sinoplasty is the process of opening the narrowed sinus canals with the help of a balloon catheter. With this surgical intervention, which has a very high treatment success, we permanently solve the problems.

Surgery and Postoperative Process

Sinusitis surgery is performed under general anesthesia. It is an operation lasting 1-2 hours. This period may be prolonged depending on the number of blocked sinus canals, presence of polyps, bleeding and accompanying deviation and turbinate hypertrophy. For the first 4-5 days, the nose may be blocked due to crusting and tissue edema, and there may be mild eyebrow and headache. The patient's nose will start to open after 4-5 days and the person will express that he/she is much better with each passing day.

Does Sinusitis Recur?

After a well performed surgery, 85% complete recovery is achieved. Lack of improvement and continuation of complaints; incomplete surgery (not solving the problem in the forehead and skull base sinuses), the presence of allergies in the patient and healing disorders of the mucosa. Our postoperative expectation is that the headache and nasal congestion will completely resolve. Nasal discharge may continue, but the discharge will be colorless and the patient's smell will improve. The patient should avoid pressure-increasing movements such as blowing and straining for the first 4 days after surgery.

Sinusitis complaints may increase during seasonal changes.