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Sinus disease; truth Vs misconception
Written By: Dr Ibrahim Issa MD. Otolaryngology Consultant , Laryngologist & Phonosurgeon
Edited By: Dr Mohammad Murad MD. Otolaryngology Specialist.
“Doctor, I have sinuses!”, “Doctor, let me make it clear, I have sinuses for a long time now”, ” doctor, do you mean I have sinuses? And I will need surgery?!”, “Doctor, but everybody says sinuses will recur and surgery is not effective”, “my friend had the sinus removed by surgery and it came back”, “my friend underwent sinus surgery and he is not happy with the results”…… these are very common phrases I encounter almost daily in my clinic, I heard it in several places in the world where I worked, in different cultures, and by people with varying levels of education, unfortunately sometimes by doctors!.
When somebody has pain in his belly, he will be examined, then maybe given a pill, he might need a surgery, it might be a simple appendicitis, or an end stage colon cancer. We will not ever be able to say that “belly surgeries” are bad and not effective, or “belly disease” are recurrent and not curable!
This so much close to how “sinus disease” term is vague , non specific and not representative to the patients problem in the sinuses, and making generalizations about the results of treatments and surgeries of “sinus diseases” are also not scientific and not accurate.
Sinuses are normal structures in the head of each one of us, they are actually bony cavities, lined with mucosa, and filled with air, they are connected to the nose and the ears by openings and ducts, they are important for breathing, smell, voice resonance. They might get infected with viruses, bacteria, and fungus, might get inflamed due to several factors, let’s say allergy, they sometimes get involved with tumors-benign or malignant-, they might be anatomically abnormal since birth or get changed with trauma, environmental factors and age, they include several anatomical subdivisions like turbinates, septum, different cartilages and bones, they with the nose are close to several important arteries, veins and nerves, they are closely related to the brain, eyes and mouth.
Nose and sinuses could be affected by several diseases and each one could be treated differently with medicine or surgery, each problem has its cure or recurrence rate, some are recurrent and some are not, some needs surgery and some doesn’t. Surgeries could be simple clinic based procedures and some are very complicated multi stage multi hours surgeries, some are efficient and curative and some others are just palliative.
see also (Adenoids vs turbinates vs nasal polyps) , (nose block in adults) , (nose block in children)
As a conclusion, I aim by writing these lines to decrease misconceptions about sinus related problems and to encourage the reader to think of the sinuses as any other organ in the body that could have a problem, not as a problem by itself.
Written By: Dr Ibrahim Issa MD. Otolaryngology Consultant , Laryngologist & Phonosurgeon
Edited By: Dr Mohammad Murad MD. Otolaryngology Specialist.
