Sinus Surgery

What is endoscopic sinus surgery?

Most sinus surgery today is preformed endoscopically. This involves using tiny telescopes to look up into the nose and into the sinus cavities. These small telescopes along with small microsurgical instruments can be used to actually open and go into the sinus cavities and clean the sinuses out.

Puss, polyps, and the like can be removed and sent to pathology for examination. This type of sinus surgery is usually reserved for cases that do not respond to conventional methods of treatment with antibiotics or allergy treatment.

The advantages of this type of surgery is that it enables the surgeon to look directly into the sinus passageways and remove any abnormal findings as well and to correct any bony or anatomical abnormalities.

This type of surgery causes little pain to the patient after the procedure, and there are no incisions or black or blue marks on the face or eyes.

How long does the surgery take?

This surgery can take as long at 4 hours, or be as short as 30 minutes, depending on the degree of sinus involvement.

What conditions might require endoscopic sinus surgery?

Conditions that might require endoscopic sinus surgery include:

• anatomical (bony) abnormalities of the nose or sinus cavities
• nasal polyps
• deviation of the nasal septum
• fungal infections
• tumors
• cystic fibrosis

What are the risks of sinus surgery?

As with most surgical procedures, sinus surgery has some associated risks with it. Each patient should discuss the risks of the operation with his or her physician.

Depending on what sinuses are involved with sinus disease, each operation can have varying degrees of risk that go along with it.