What is the link between nasal polyps and sinus issues?

Doctor's Answer

I'm sorry to hear that you have been suffering from sinus issues your whole life!

I am pretty sure that your nasal polyps are part of the underlying cause of your sinus problems as this link is well-documented. Nasal polyps are usually benign inflammatory growths which arise from the thickened lining of your sinuses.

As the nasal polyps grow larger, they start to block off the openings of the sinuses, preventing from draining properly and resulting in the trapping of thick mucus inside the sinuses.

Bacteria and viruses can easily grow in these pools of mucus, leading to frequent infections of the sinuses, so that you suffer:

  • headaches
  • blocked and runny nose
  • smelly yellow/greenish nasal discharge
  • postnasal drip causing you to cough and clear your throat constantly

Sinus infections can make you quite unwell with fever and facial pain too. When nasal polyps are large, they also make it difficult for you to breathe through your nose and quite likely, your voice will sound like you constantly have a cold because of this nasal obstruction.

Funnily enough, nobody truly knows what the true cause of nasal polyps are, although many studies speculate that they may be due to underlying nasal allergies.

Previous studies even hinted at a fungal source of infection causing the growth of nasal polyps.

If you are plagued by so many sinus problems and you already know that you have nasal polyps, I presume that you very likely have already undergone a flexible nasal endoscopy/camera procedure in clinic to examine the insides of your nose and sinuses. This is painfree and easy enough to perform.

To shrink nasal polyps, we usually prescribe nasal medications like steroid sprays, or if they are very large, sometimes a course of steroid tablets, in addition to antibiotics to treat the sinus infection.

If these medications do not help to shrink your polyps and if your sinus infections do not improve, then the next option is to consider surgical removal of the nasal polyps to clear the obstruction and allow the sinuses to drain freely once again.

Surgery is minimally invasive, quite straightforward and is performed with the help of an endoscope/camera inserted into the nose. It may be done as a daycase procedure under a short general anaesthetic but many patients prefer to stay in hospital overnight and go home the next day.

So the answer to your question is quite simple really: Yes, those nasal polyps are the likely cause of your sinus infections and if medications don't help you anymore, then yes, you should consider having those polyps removed.

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