Sinus Doctors Dallas Fort Worth

Sinusitis affects millions of people and has a significant impact on quality of life.  Symptoms include nasal congestion, excessive mucus drainage, facial pain/pressure, headaches, and possibly fever.  Sinusitis can be treated with medications, allergy treatment, and various types of procedures to alleviate sinus blockage.  We provide a tailored approach to each patient and offer state-of-the-art minimally-invasive treatments.

This CT scan shows a cross section of the sinus cavities.  The black spaces are healthy sinuses cavities.  The sinus cavities are filled with air in a healthy state and air is less dense than soft tissue (gray color) and bone (white color). The largest triangular sinuses are called the maxillary sinuses.  

This CT scan shows severe blockage and sinusitis on one side and partial blockage on the other side.  This patient had completely obstructed breathing on the worse side.  The sinus cavities are filled with gray color instead of black--which means the sinuses are extremely swollen and full of retained and entrapped mucus and infection.

Chronic rhinitis refers to inflammation in the lining of the nose that can have a number of different and overlapping causes.  Allergies cause rhinitis for millions of people but millions more suffer from non-allergic rhinitis.  Non-allergic rhinitis can be due to medications, hormonal changes, environmental pollutants, tobacco smoke, and other causes.  Chronic rhinitis can be treated with the same types of anti-inflammatory medications such as nasal steroid sprays, antihistamines, nasal saline irrigation, and decongestants.  However sometimes these medications are not effective enough and do not provide lasting relief.

An exciting new treatment for chronic rhinitis is called posterior nasal nerve ablation.  The posterior nasal nerves are located towards the back of the nasal cavity.  When these nerves are stimulated it causes swelling of the mucus membranes and excessive mucus production resulting in the familiar but unpleasant symptoms of nasal congestion/stuffiness and drainage.  Conversely, when these nerves are weakened with an ablation procedure then patients experience lasting relief from chronic rhinitis symptoms.  The procedure is performed in the office with topical and local anesthesia and patients can return to work the following day.  Topical anesthetic is applied on small cotton strips soaked with an anesthetic gel.  After five minutes, the cotton strips are removed and two injections of local anesthetic are applied on each side.  Patients cannot feel the injections because of the affect of the topical gel that was already applied.  Once the nasal cavity is sufficiently anesthetized, then a small device is inserted to the back of the nasal cavity where the posterior nasal nerves are located.  Radiofrequency energy or cryotherapy is performed to treat these sites, which takes about 30 seconds on each side.  The procedure is not painful at all and patients can return to work the following day.  

More severe cases of sinusitis may result in the formation of nasal polyps, which are fleshy growths inside the nose and sinuses.  The polyps tend to gradually get worse until patients lose their sense of smell and never breathe clearly.  Sinus surgery is a common outpatient surgery to remove polyps and relieve the physical blockage of the sinus passages.