Sinusitis in Adults: What to Do at Home and When to See a Doctor

A blocked nose, pressing pain under the eyes and purulent discharge are often mistaken for a lingering runny nose. In fact it may be maxillary sinusitis — inflammation of the maxillary sinuses. Let’s look at how the disease shows itself, what you can do at home and in which cases you must not put off a visit to an ENT doctor.

What Sinusitis Is and How It Shows Itself

Sinusitis is an inflammation of the mucous membrane of the maxillary sinuses, which are located on both sides of the nose, in the thickness of the upper jaw. The sinuses are connected to the nose by narrow openings. When the mucous membrane swells, these openings close, mucus stagnates, and microbes multiply in it. In medical terms it is also called maxillary sinusitis.

Acute and Chronic Sinusitis

Acute sinusitis lasts up to 4 weeks, subacute sinusitis from 4 to 12 weeks. If signs of the disease persist longer than 12 weeks or return regularly, it is called chronic sinusitis. The chronic form requires examination and monitoring by a doctor.

Signs: Pain and Heaviness in the Sinus Area, Congestion, Purulent Discharge, Temperature

Typical symptoms of sinusitis:

• pain, a feeling of pressure or fullness in the area of the cheeks, under the eyes and beside the wings of the nose, which gets worse when you tilt your head;
• nasal congestion, reduced sense of smell;
• thick yellow or greenish discharge;
• headache, especially in the morning;
• temperature of 37.5–38.5 °C, weakness;
• sometimes pain in the upper teeth.

How to Tell Sinusitis from an Ordinary Runny Nose

With an ordinary runny nose the discharge is more often clear, and after 5–7 days the condition improves. Sinusitis is characterized by other signals: improvement is followed by worsening, facial pain lasts longer than 10 days, the discharge is thick and purulent, more often on one side, and the headache gets worse when you bend over. The final diagnosis is made by a doctor after an examination and tests. If you want to know how to diagnose sinusitis in its early stages, look at the combination of signs: one-sided pain, purulent discharge and worsening on day 5–6 of ARVI.

Why Sinusitis Develops: Viruses, Bacteria, Allergy and Nose Anatomy

Most often the disease begins as a complication of ARVI. Bacteria can join in. Sinusitis also develops with allergic rhinitis, a deviated nasal septum, polyps, inflammation of the roots of the upper teeth, reduced immunity, dry air and smoking. The narrower the openings of the sinuses, the higher the risk of repeated sinusitis. A separate cause is odontogenic sinusitis, when infection gets into the sinus from a diseased upper tooth. In this case, besides an ENT doctor, a dentist is needed: without treating the tooth, the inflammation will keep returning.

What to Do for Sinusitis at Home: Safe First Aid

Home measures help to ease your condition, but they do not replace the treatment prescribed by a doctor.

Rinsing the Nose and Humidifying the Air

Rinsing with saline solutions cleans the nose and helps the sinuses drain. It should be done gently, without strong pressure, leaning over the sink. The air in the room should be humidified: dry air thickens mucus and makes it harder to drain.

Fluids, Rest and Vasoconstrictor Drops (When and How Much Is Allowed)

Drink enough warm fluids and rest more. Vasoconstrictor drops reduce swelling and ease breathing, but they may be used for no more than 3–5 days: longer, and you risk developing medication-induced rhinitis. To relieve headache and temperature, paracetamol or ibuprofen in standard doses are acceptable if there are no contraindications.

What You Must Not Do

• Warm the nose and sinuses, especially with pus and fever: heat increases inflammation.
• Try to “break through” the sinuses or draw pus out of the nose on your own: pus cannot be drawn out by ointment or any other home remedy — drainage is provided by rinsing and medication.
• Take antibiotics on your own.
• Put oils and herbal infusions into the nose without a doctor’s prescription.

An ointment for sinusitis does not treat the inflammation by itself, and it should be used only as prescribed by a doctor.

When Sinusitis Is Dangerous and You Need to See a Doctor Urgently

Call an ambulance or see a doctor urgently if:

• swelling and redness appear around the eye, vision is impaired, or you see double;
• a severe headache is combined with a stiff neck, vomiting or confusion;
• the temperature is above 39 °C;
• your condition worsens after an initial improvement;
• symptoms do not go away for more than 10 days.

In rare cases the infection can spread into the eye socket or the cranial cavity, and then emergency help is needed. To avoid complications, do not delay a visit if treatment at home has no effect within 7–10 days and the temperature and facial pain are growing.

How an ENT Doctor Treats Sinusitis: Diagnosis and Methods

To diagnose sinusitis, the doctor examines the nose with an endoscope and, if necessary, orders an X-ray or CT of the paranasal sinuses. Treatment depends on the form of the disease: rinsing, vasoconstrictor and hormonal sprays, and antibiotics for the bacterial form. Antibiotics are not prescribed to everyone: with viral sinusitis they are useless, and with bacterial sinusitis the doctor selects the drug and the length of the course. The medication must be taken to the end of the course, even if you feel better. If pus has accumulated, the doctor may perform a puncture to remove the contents and rinse the sinus. For chronic sinusitis and anatomical causes, surgical treatment is possible — ENT surgery restores drainage from the sinuses.

ENT Care for Sinusitis at Helyos: Specialists and Consultation Cost

The Helyos medical center provides sinusitis treatment in Dnipro: examination, diagnosis and selection of therapy. For a general overview of the department, see the page on otolaryngology for adults. Before your appointment it is useful to write down when the illness began, which drugs you took and for how long, and to bring the results of previous CT scans and X-rays. This will help the doctor determine the approach faster. Price information is available on the prices for medical services page.