Considering Surgery for your Chronic Sinus Infection
Chronic Sinus Infection Surgery
Surgery to treat a chronic sinus infection is usually performed if medical treatment hasn't worked. If you and your doctor decide that surgery is the best option, you can choose from a number of common procedures used to treat chronic sinus infection. Together, you and your doctor will decide if sinus surgery is right for you. You will likely have one of three kinds of functional endoscopic sinus surgery. All are minimally invasive outpatient procedures, so usually you go home the same day. When you do, you can expect to breathe more freely and you should have fewer sinus infections.
Surgical Procedure Options Available to Treat Chronic Sinus Infection
If your ethmoid sinuses are the ones affected by your chronic sinus infection, then an ethmoidectomy may be the surgery you need. This procedure is usually done under general anesthesia. It can last from 1 to 3 hours. During surgery, your ENT surgeon passes a narrow tube called an endoscope into your nose. This tube has a tiny camera and a light at the end of it, so the surgeon has an excellent view of your ethmoid sinuses. Small surgical instruments are then passed to the site of the problem through another thin tube. With these instruments, your surgeon opens the ethmoid sinus cavity to improve drainage into the nasal airway.
Pressure and pain under your eyes and behind your cheek bones may mean that your chronic sinus infection is in your maxillary sinuses. A maxillary antrostomy is done for this. During surgery, an endoscopy will be done through your nose to your sinuses so the surgeon has an excellent view of your maxillary sinus, the opening to the maxillary sinus, and the area of the nose where it drains. This surgery will help the fluid in your maxillary sinuses drain more efficiently and should reduce your chances of getting sinus infections in the future.
If your chronic sinus infection is caused by blockage from a deviated septum and enlarged turbinates, a powered septoplasty with turbinoplasty may be needed. During surgery, an endoscopy will be done through your nose. With this, your surgeon corrects the deviation in your septum and reduces the enlarged turbinates. This procedure removes the blockage in your nose to help you breathe more freely and improve drainage.
In the recovery room, you will be monitored for about an hour or so. This is to make sure there are no complications. Before you leave the hospital, you will get important instructions on how to care for your nose and sinuses while they heal, and when to return for a follow-up visit. If you have any questions or concerns before and after your chronic sinus infection surgery, be sure to ask your doctor.
Surgery to treat a chronic sinus infection is usually performed if medical treatment hasn't worked. If you and your doctor decide that surgery is the best option, you can choose from a number of common procedures used to treat chronic sinus infection. Together, you and your doctor will decide if sinus surgery is right for you. You will likely have one of three kinds of functional endoscopic sinus surgery. All are minimally invasive outpatient procedures, so usually you go home the same day. When you do, you can expect to breathe more freely and you should have fewer sinus infections.
Surgical Procedure Options Available to Treat Chronic Sinus Infection
If your ethmoid sinuses are the ones affected by your chronic sinus infection, then an ethmoidectomy may be the surgery you need. This procedure is usually done under general anesthesia. It can last from 1 to 3 hours. During surgery, your ENT surgeon passes a narrow tube called an endoscope into your nose. This tube has a tiny camera and a light at the end of it, so the surgeon has an excellent view of your ethmoid sinuses. Small surgical instruments are then passed to the site of the problem through another thin tube. With these instruments, your surgeon opens the ethmoid sinus cavity to improve drainage into the nasal airway.
Pressure and pain under your eyes and behind your cheek bones may mean that your chronic sinus infection is in your maxillary sinuses. A maxillary antrostomy is done for this. During surgery, an endoscopy will be done through your nose to your sinuses so the surgeon has an excellent view of your maxillary sinus, the opening to the maxillary sinus, and the area of the nose where it drains. This surgery will help the fluid in your maxillary sinuses drain more efficiently and should reduce your chances of getting sinus infections in the future.
If your chronic sinus infection is caused by blockage from a deviated septum and enlarged turbinates, a powered septoplasty with turbinoplasty may be needed. During surgery, an endoscopy will be done through your nose. With this, your surgeon corrects the deviation in your septum and reduces the enlarged turbinates. This procedure removes the blockage in your nose to help you breathe more freely and improve drainage.
In the recovery room, you will be monitored for about an hour or so. This is to make sure there are no complications. Before you leave the hospital, you will get important instructions on how to care for your nose and sinuses while they heal, and when to return for a follow-up visit. If you have any questions or concerns before and after your chronic sinus infection surgery, be sure to ask your doctor.
