Dr. Uday K Vora

You may feel congestion or fullness all over your face, pain around eyes, forehead, and face, and may have a runny nose or nasal congestion. The condition may be chronic sinusitis and knowing the symptoms will help you manage the condition effectively.

Chronic sinusitis is a condition where the cavities around the nasal passages, i.e., the sinuses become swollen and inflamed and stays like that for about 12 weeks. It is a persisting condition, and one or more sinuses are affected in this condition.

What causes chronic sinusitis?
There are quite a few causes that can lead to chronic sinusitis. Some of them are:

• A damaged nasal septum may cause the blockage of the sinus passages, thereby leading to chronic sinusitis.
• The growth of nasal polyps in the sinus passages causes the blocking of the passages and thus may lead to chronic sinusitis.
• Infections in the respiratory tract which can be viral, bacterial or fungal like cold and cough may cause the inflammation of the tissues in the nasal passage and thus block the passage for mucous movement. Such a condition also leads to chronic sinusitis.
• Other causes include some medical conditions like any immune system related diseases such as HIV or any complications of cystic fibrosis, gastroesophageal reflux, etc.
• Sometimes allergic conditions may also lead to the inflammation of the tissues of the nasal passage and result in the same.

Know The Symptoms To Self-diagnose
There are four primary symptoms related to chronic sinusitis out of which a person requires to be confirmed of the presence of at least two symptoms for the doctor to suspect chronic sinusitis. These are:

• Congestion of the nasal passage causing breathing difficulties through the nose.
• Discharge of highly viscous or thick, discolored mucus from the nose and also drainage of such down the back of your throat.
• Swelling, tenderness, and pain around the eyes, cheeks, nose, and forehead.
• A cough or reduced taste and smell sensations in the adults.

Other symptoms include a sore throat, pain in the upper jaw and teeth, ear pain, worsened cough at night, etc.

Clinical Diagnosis
There are quite a few ways by which your doctor is going to diagnose the problem, some of which are:

• Observing the nasal passage by nasal endoscopy, that is by inserting an endoscope with a fiber-optic light. This process is also called Rhinoscopy.
• Details of your nasal area can also be observed using the images obtained from a CT or MRI scan.
• If any of the above tests fail, a tissue culture test of your nasal passage and sinus is done to identify the infection you are affected with.

Allergy tests may also be done if the doctor suspects the condition to be caused by any allergies.

Various medications, immune-therapies, and even surgeries are opted for reducing the inflammation or for making way for the mucus to move out. The treatment is chosen depending on the severity of the situation.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!