What Does Sinus Surgery Treat?

Sinus surgery is the go-to method to help you treat sinus pain and sinusitis, especially when it fails to respond to medical treatment. Your ear, nose and throat specialist may put you forward as a candidate for sinus surgery if you’ve been diagnosed with sinusitis and it’s not reacting to any medical treatments within three months. In this case, it’s often considered chronic sinusitis and you’ll be referred to a specialist to help you make the next step.

Patients that respond to medical therapy often don’t need surgery, so sinus surgery is often only used to treat drastic cases of sinusitis.

Reasons for undergoing sinus surgery

In most cases, sinus surgery is a last resort to help you deal with chronic sinusitis, but there are other reasons to undergo sinus surgery as well.

• Your doctor has found evidence of chronic sinusitis even after long-term medical treatment that lasts around three months
• You have a sinus disease that is caused by a fungal infection
• Your doctor has identified structural abnormalities of the nose or sinuses
• Your doctor has discovered nasal or sinus polyps
• You have a sinus infection that has spread to the bones
• Your doctor has diagnosed you with cancer of the sinus
• Chronic sinusitis together with HIV

If your doctor discovers that you’re in one of these situations, then you’ll be put forward for sinus surgery.

Types of sinus surgery

There are several different types of sinus surgery.

Functional endoscopic surgery is a procedure that uses a lighted tube known as an endoscope. This is to look directly into your nose and the sinuses. During this procedure, your surgeon will remove tissue, clean out your sinuses and enlarge openings for drainage if needed. This is a relatively common and simple procedure.

Balloon sinuplasty is a surgical procedure where a catheter with an inflatable balloon is inserted into the sinus. The balloon then inflates to widen your sinus openings. This is another fairly common surgery that can deal with most sinus-related problems.

Open sinus surgery is often a last-resort to deal with complicated cases of chronic sinusitis. An incision is made directly over the sinus so it can be opened and worked on. Diseased tissues can be removed more efficiently and the sinus will often be reconstructed.

Post-sinus surgery care is important and many patients will often revisit their ENT specialist for endoscopic examinations and cleaning. Sinus surgery is also not an end-all cure for chronic sinusitis and post-operative care is required. This may involve regular sterile sinus irrigations and also the use of nasal sprays.

Some complications include bleeding, infections and loss of vision. However, serious complications are rare and occur in less than 1 percent of all sinus surgery cases.