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Of the many bodily systems we take for granted, the sinuses must rank among the top contenders. Who, after all, puts a lot of thought into breathing? It’s something we do every second of every single day, so automatically that we rarely give it conscious thought. And yet, the simple act of inhaling and exhaling becomes extremely aggravating the second that its efficiency is complicated by some kind of problem that relates to the sinuses.

Much like we take walking for granted until we get a foot injury, we also take our sinuses for granted until they start giving us problems. However, due to how commonplace sinus infections and other problems are, a lot of people don’t give their sinus problems the care that they deserve, often writing them off as temporary afflictions that will take care of themselves.

The reality is that there is much that you can do for your sinuses, and in many cases, your sinus infections will return just as fast as they disappeared. It is for this reason that visiting your local sinus center can be one of the best things you do for your personal health this year. Here at Detroit Sinus Center, our specialists offer treatments that target your sinus problems specifically, using methods that you’re unlikely to find with a general practitioner.

What Are Sinuses?

To understand exactly how sinus problems can affect you, and the reasons why treatment can feel like a miracle, it’s important to have a general understanding of sinuses.

In a nutshell, your sinuses are a system of hollow cavities in your skull that are all interconnected. These cavities are an essential component of your respiratory system, and when something is wrong with them, you’ll quickly notice the pain and discomfort that follows.

To sum up sinuses in a way that avoids complicated medical jargon, it suffices to say that sinuses are essentially the security gates for all the air you inhale. Your sinuses are responsible for catching pollutants and bacteria that could wreak havoc on your body.

Mucus – Your Body’s Frontline Defense

Have you ever wondered what the point is of mucus? If you were to ask most people what their opinion is of mucus, you probably wouldn’t get singing praise. Mucus is annoying, is it not? It clogs up our throat, it’s icky, it gets everywhere when we sneeze, and it’s just not something that the average person wants to deal with.

And yet, mucus serves an important function to your body and is a critical component of your sinuses. If bacteria, germs, and viruses are passengers that enter into your body through your nose and throat, your sinuses are the security checkpoints, and your mucus is the guard.

When you inhale, tiny hairs (combined with mucus that humidifies the air) collect pollutants, germs, and bacteria, acting as a filter.

How Your Sinuses Get Rid of Dangerous Air Particles

• Throat Mucus: Once your sinuses have collected dangerous bacteria or pollutants, it is typically transferred to the mucus in your throat, which is subsequently swallowed. It finds its way into your stomach, where your stomach acid takes care of the rest, destroying the germs for good.
• Sneezing: In some cases, certain irritants of pollutants cause an emergency reaction, where your body says “we need to get rid of this immediately!” This sends signals to your brain which triggers a sneeze. Sneezing is basically your body’s “eject” button, a reaction that fires pollutants out of your sinuses with force. So yes, it’s gross when you sneeze and it gets everywhere, but at the end of the day, your body is trying to do you a favor!

The Dangers of Sinus Infections

Although the sinuses do their best to prevent your body from dangerous irritants, it’s not immune to problems, and that’s where sinus infections come into the picture.

Medically, the proper name for a sinus infection is a condition called sinusitis. Sinusitis occurs when the tissue that lines your sinuses starts swelling or becomes inflamed. Surprisingly, this simple change in your sinuses can create a whole host of nasty side effects, varying in severity from person to person.

Did you know that a sinus infection can cause the following problems?

• Loss of Smell: Molecules in the air have to interact with certain receptors high up in the nose for the brain to register scents. Sinus blockages can severely impede your sense of smell because it blocks the pathway of these molecules.
• Bad Breath: The mucus in your nasal passages and sinuses can give off noxious odors when congested, due to the strong presence of bacteria.
• Coughing: Sinus infections usually result in an excess of mucus, both in the nasal passages and throat. The latter can impede your breathing and causes continual coughing with the purpose of expelling the mucus.
• Headaches: Inflammation leads to congestion, and congestion can lead to infection as well as a massive buildup of pressure in your sinuses. This pressure can cause a headache that’s different in nature from tension headaches and migraines.
• Facial Pain: You have sinuses underneath your cheeks, forehead, and nose. When these are inflamed and swelling, they can throb with pain, or hurt on contact.
• Lack of Energy: Sinusitis directly causes fatigue by putting your immune system into overdrive to fight it off, something that uses up your energy. It can also indirectly cause fatigue by disrupting your sleep, making you more tired the next day.
• Nasal Congestion: You can expect your nose to be clogged up when you have sinusitis — this is an obvious consequence of blocked nasal passages and one of the symptoms that’s easiest to identify.
• Nasal Discharge: Sinusitis causes an excess of mucus, and your body tries to dispel of it in certain ways. One such way is runny nasal discharge. If you have sinusitis, your mucus is likely to be yellow or green, as opposed to the common cold where it’s more of a clear color.
• Sore Throat: If your sinuses are housing an infection, mucus can drip down into your throat, taking the bacteria with it. This can inflame your throat, making it painful to swallow.

The Three Different Types of Sinusitis

Most of the symptoms of sinusitis aren’t too off from a cold, and truth be told, aren’t too difficult to weather for the average person. The symptoms may be unpleasant, but nothing that is unbearable. It might be easy to wonder, then, why sinus centers are necessary.

The answer is simple — there are different varieties of sinusitis, some much more serious than the others.

• Acute Sinusitis: Acute sinusitis is the most common form of sinusitis, and it typically occurs after a cold. Indeed, the symptoms of sinusitis aren’t far off from what you experience with a common cold, and the two are often (but not always) connected. Acute sinusitis usually takes care of itself within seven to ten days, but if it’s left untreated and symptoms continue to linger, it can lead to a more serious infection.
• Recurrent Sinusitis: Do you find yourself with sinusitis at least four or more times every year? You might have recurrent sinusitis. Recurrent sinusitis is when you continually get sinus infections throughout the year. Usually when one passes it’s not long before another arrives, making people feel trapped in an endless cycle of infection.
• Chronic Sinusitis: Chronic sinusitis is when you have a sinus infection that just won’t go away. Imagine having acute sinusitis for 12 weeks straight — that’s what chronic sinusitis is. It’s a more severe form of sinusitis that can be caused by a variety of factors, one of them being an untreated case of acute sinusitis.

How Your Sinus Center Treats Sinusitis

Sinusitis is a minor annoyance at its best and majorly debilitating at its worst. While many people who suffer from acute sinus infections can just wait it out and it takes care of itself, those who are afflicted with recurrent or chronic sinusitis will find themselves needing more advanced treatment.

You can go to a general practitioner for sinusitis treatment, but they lack the more comprehensive treatments that sinus doctors can offer, such as sinus surgery and balloon sinus dilation. They might prescribe you with medication, but for many people, this isn’t enough. In fact, many of our patients are people who simply weren’t able to escape from their sinusitis despite being prescribed medication.

A sinus center has a team of experts who are professionally trained to specifically diagnose and target sinus issues. We have three services that can help with this, and if you’re someone who consistently suffers from chronic or recurrent sinus problems, these treatments are just for you.

Balloon Sinus Dilation

Balloon sinus dilation, also known as balloon sinuplasty, is a safe and effective way to expand sinus pathways and repair damage in the nasal cavity.

The majority of problems that sinusitis causes are consequential of your sinus pathways being inflamed and congested. This causes buildup of mucus in your sinuses, which can turn into a breeding ground for infection, which, of course, can exacerbate all the other symptoms.

With that being said, the easiest solution is simply unclogging those sinus pathways and letting them drain. That’s exactly what balloon sinus dilation does.

In a balloon sinus dilation procedure, your sinus doctor identifies the sinus area that needs to be treated, and then carefully positions a device in your sinus pathways that houses a tiny balloon. This balloon inflates, expanding the sinus pathway with it, and once removed, the sinus area is able to drain itself once more.

The Main Benefits of Balloon Sinuplasty

• Instant relief: The balloon procedure takes care of the main problem, which is a clogged sinus pathway. With your sinus being able to function normally, the accompanying symptoms disappear. Many clients are back to normal in just one or two days!
• Comfortable and convenient: While it’s a stretch to say that it’s “comfortable” to have your nasal and sinus passages invaded by a little device, it’s much more so than other alternatives, such as sinus surgery, and it’s a procedure that can be done quickly. Balloon sinuplasty is relatively easy, both for doctor and patient
• Minimally Invasive: Many patients prefer balloon sinuplasty because it’s a minimally invasive procedure compared to the other alternative, which is surgery. This makes it easier, less stressful, and more affordable for the average person.

Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

For those patients who are more seriously afflicted, endoscopic sinus surgery is the best bet for a happy and healthy recovery from sinusitis. While balloon sinuplasty can be useful for treating sinus infections where the only solution is to open up the blocked passage, endoscopic sinus surgery specifically targets blockages that can’t be remedied by the balloon procedure. These patients might experience sinus infections over and over, or go through long bouts of infections that last for months. Neither option is appealing, and the detrimental effects of continual sinusitis can really take a toll, even on the strongest of people.

Endoscopic sinus surgery uses innovative, minimally invasive methods to remove blockages on the sinus opening that cause pain and interfere with breathing. For those who suffer headaches, face pain, sore throats, and restricted breathing, this procedure can feel like a miracle cure.

The Main Benefits of Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

• Pain Relief: The people who benefit most from endoscopic sinus surgery are those who frequently experience sinus-related pain. If you have a recurring or chronic form of sinusitis, this procedure can be a boon to your everyday health and happiness.
• State-of-the-Art: Endoscopic sinus surgery uses cutting-edge technology and methods to get the job done. Prior to this surgery, most sinus treatments were invasive and painful. No longer!
• Minimally Invasive: Don’t be scared off by the word “surgery.” Like balloon sinuplasty, this procedure is minimally invasive, resulting in an operation that’s far less stressful and safer for every patient.

Medical Therapy

The two procedures listed above are designed for patients who need a major treatment that will cause significant relief from lasting sinus issues. However, even if your situation isn’t as dire, there are still many ways that our sinus doctors can help you if you’re experiencing an unpleasant case of sinusitis.

In fact, every single patient has different needs according to their situation. Some will benefit from balloon sinuplasty, others from endoscopic sinus surgery. And for others still, they might just have a need for more traditional treatments, such as medication. Or, if your case is extreme, you might benefit from all of the above.

Regardless, our doctors will evaluate your situation, and give you a clear diagnosis of what your main problems are, and how we can help.

Basic Sinusitis Treatments:

• Nasal Steroids: Nasal steroids can help to relieve pressure and pain in your sinus pathways, as they help to reduce the amount of swelling in the mucous membrane lining.
• Antibiotics: Sinusitis can lead to bacterial infections, due to a non-trivial amount of bacteria being trapped in your sinuses.
• Decongestant Nasal Drops: Sometimes the effects of sinusitis can be greatly reduced by decongestant nasal drops that soothe mucous membranes and reduce swelling. This will help you to breathe more clearly through your nose.

Your Sinus Center in Allen Park

Sinusitis can be an aggravating condition that continually makes your daily life uncomfortable and unpleasant. At Detroit Sinus Center, we want to help alleviate your problems. Our sinus doctors are professionally trained and highly experienced in treating all manner of sinus problems. Whether you have chronic sinusitis or a a simple short-term sinus infection, we’re here to help.

We have served countless clients in the Detroit area, and people have come to our sinus clinic from Allen Park, Dearborn, Detroit, and Southfield to find relief from their sinusitis. Contact us today to schedule an appointment!