How Balloon Sinuplasty Can Remedy Chronic Sinusitis
You might know that sinuses can cause problems, but have you ever thought about the details?
The sinuses refer to the air-filled cavities found on both sides of your nose, between your eyes, and behind your forehead.
If your sinuses are healthy, they’re lined with mucus-producing tissues that protect you from infections and allergic reactions by trapping bacteria, viruses, dust mites, and more — anything out of the ordinary that could cause problems. Once the mucus traps the offending particles, it drains away before you can even feel or taste it.
Clogged sinuses
At Broward Specialty Group, one of our specialties is treating chronic sinusitis. And here is a fact for you: did you know that almost 12% of adult women and men in the United States experience chronic sinusitis. When this happens, your sinuses can’t do their job because the mucus becomes overrun with microorganisms, which makes it thick and slow.
Your sinus cavities, which are normally filled with air, begin to fill with mucus instead. That adds pressure to your sinus cavities. The thickened mucus might also slowly drip down the back of your throat in a process called a postnasal drip. You’ll most likely experience symptoms like:
- Difficulty smelling and tasting
- Trouble breathing
- Bad breath
- Thick green or yellow mucus
- Bad taste of postnasal drip
- Snoring and insomnia
- Headaches and “clogged up” feeling
- Wheezing or coughing
To get rid of these symptoms, we first have to determine the root cause of the problem.
Why you have sinusitis
Anyone can get sinusitis. And at one time or another, each of us comes down with a common cold or other illness that causes nasal inflammation and produces thickened mucus. But if you face chronic attacks of sinusitis, your problem might be more than a random infection — you may have a structural problem such as a deviated nasal septum.
For a diagnosis, our team will take a detailed medical history, conducts a physical exam, and possibly performs an in-office endoscopic evaluation and CT scan of your nose and sinuses.
Your treatment recommendations will be based on the cause of your sinusitis. If your drainage passageways are swollen, obstructed, or narrowed, and you have no structural abnormalities, our doctors may recommend a technologically advanced, FDA-approved procedure called balloon sinuplasty.
How the balloon works
Treatment with balloon sinuplasty is more successful the closer it is performed to the diagnosis of sinusitis, so if you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, get checked out as soon as possible. The procedure is minimally invasive and will require either local or general anesthesia, but you can do it in the office, and no incisions are involved.
Your doctor will thread a guidewire catheter equipped with a tiny, deflated balloon up your nostril and into the inflamed sinus. Once this is completed and the balloon is positioned properly, your doctor will inflate the balloon so it presses back your inflamed tissues. That creates a clear and empty space in your sinuses once again.
The next step is to deflate and withdraw the balloon. After the procedure, you’ll be able to breathe easily through your nose.
As far as recovery, you should take it easy for a day or so, but then you can resume normal activity.
To find out if you can get relief from sinusitis without long-term medications or surgery, contact Broward Specialty Group for a balloon sinuplasty consultation. Feel free to call any of our offices in Coconut Creek, Delray Beach, or Pompano Beach, Florida, or book your appointment online.