Do you have a sinus infection or a chronic sinus infection?

Sinusitis affects over 40 million Americans each year. For those with acute sinusitis, medical therapy is effective and appropriate. For patients with chronic sinusitis, more aggressive medical therapy may resolve the pathology, but intervention by an otolaryngologist is often necessary. Acute sinusitis is defined as an infection causing inflammation of the sinuses lasting less than four weeks. Typical symptoms include sinus pain, pressure, and headaches, increased colored nasal drainage, nasal obstruction, maxillary tooth pain, and often fever. Most of these infections start as an upper respiratory tract infection that does not seem to improve. Typically viral upper respiratory infection symptoms that persist or worsen at 5 to 7 days represent an acute sinus infection. Routine sinus antibiotics are indicated for this condition. Chronic sinusitis is one of the more prevalent chronic illnesses in the United States, affecting persons of all age groups. It is an inflammatory process that involves the sinuses and persists for 12 weeks or longer. Most cases of chronic sinusitis are continuations of unresolved acute sinusitis; however, chronic sinusitis usually manifests differently from acute sinusitis. Symptoms of chronic sinusitis include nasal stuffiness, postnasal drip, facial fullness, and malaise. Chronic sinusitis is often related to infection and anatomic obstruction in the sinus drainage pathways, but can be caused by allergy, cystic fibrosis, and immunologic disorders. Medical therapy is directed toward controlling predisposing factors, treating concomitant infections, and reducing edema of sinus tissues. Surgical therapy involves opening sinus drainage pathways. The most common procedure to accomplish this is Balloon Sinuplasty. In this procedure, a balloon is used to dilate the sinus openings to improve sinus drainage. This is a simple clinic procedure which is 90% effective in resolving the chronic problems. If chronic sinusitis seems to be affecting your quality of life, the otolaryngology physician has both medical and simple surgical interventions to resolve your symptoms. Zachary Wassmuth, MD