At any given moment, you could wake up with a sore throat, stuffy or runny nose, and head or facial pain due to having an acute sinus infection. That might not seem like anything to worry about, especially if you plan to rely on some over-the-counter treatments, home remedies, or prescription medications. But imagine having to live with anxiety about sinus symptoms like the millions of people who suffer from chronic sinusitis.
Sinus infections are not always so convenient to deal with, especially when you’re so busy trying to live your life. Managing the symptoms may buy you time, but balloon sinuplasty offers you freedom from the shackles of chronic sinus infections.
Anyone suffering from recurring or severe sinus infections should consider balloon sinuplasty. It’s a safe, popular, and effective treatment that is usually performed as an in-office procedure. Unlike alternative treatments, balloon sinuplasty is minimally invasive. Balloon sinuplasty is a common and popular treatment for sinus infections that come and go with or without warning that eliminates the agonizing effects of chronic or recurring sinus symptoms.
Though balloon sinuplasty offers distinct advantages for sinus sufferers, it can come with certain long-term risks that anyone considering the procedure should be aware of, especially when performed by someone who doesn’t do these procedures routinely. As with all medical procedures, there is a slight chance for side effects and the following complications:
Bloody Discharge and Drainage: Patients may experience some mild, bloody discharge from their nose for the first few days after their procedure. This drainage is normal, though uncommon and may come and go for several days before becoming lighter and less noticeable as it resolves.
Facial Swelling: Due to the delicate nature of the nasal membranes and cavities, swelling can develop for a day or two after the procedure and then resolve. These effects are usually temporary and not long-term.
Loss of Smell or Taste: Sometimes, the sensitive nerves and tissues in the nasal passages become damaged from the trauma of the procedure and become damaged. This serious complication is very rare and the risks of it happening are even lower when a highly experienced balloon sinuplasty doctor, like Dr. Alen Cohen, performs the treatment.
Adverse Reactions to Anesthesia: Balloon sinuplasty patients receive a small amount of local anesthesia before the procedure to desensitize the treatment area. Reactions to anesthesia range from none to mild. The short-term and mild effects of anesthesia for balloon sinuplasty include nausea, dry mouth, lip numbness and headache. Short-lived reactions to anesthesia generally resolve within a few hours after treatment.
Nerve, Muscle, or Bone Damage: Though extremely rare, some patients may develop damage to the eye that prevents normal eye movement, vision, or sensations. These symptoms indicate the muscles in the surrounding structures of the eyes, or the ethmoid sinus cavity are dysfunctional or damaged. Excessive eye duct tearing is also common in patients experiencing rare or long-term balloon sinuplasty effects. Again all the more reason to see an experienced balloon sinuplasty surgeon like Dr. Cohen who has done thousands of procedures and trained other doctors.
When Is Additional Medical Care Necessary?
Patients should consider the following info to determine if they should notify their surgeon about the possibility of long-term side effects of balloon sinuplasty.
Drainage that is reddish in color persists longer than 10 days after the procedure.
Nose or face or forehead pain or sensitivity or swelling that persists more than 3 weeks after the procedure.
Lingering nasal congestion, headaches, and a fever that doesn’t improve after 3 weeks after the procedure.
It’s important to understand that although balloon sinuplasty is performed in the office under local anesthesia, it is still a minimally invasive procedure with potential complications when not performed by an expert nose and sinus surgeon. It is fairly painless when compared to the more conventional medical methods for treating sinus infections. There’s no need to cut the face or nose to perform the procedure. The entire operation involves the surgeon using tiny special, surgical tools to insert, move, and rearrange the tissues in the nasal airways, including a small surgical balloon.
Even still, this technique does cause physical trauma to the immediate and surrounding treatment areas. But, unlike other sinus surgeries and treatments, the risks of side effects and complications are much lower, and chances of successful outcomes are much higher. Patients can get treatment and experience relief much sooner because it’s an in-office ENT procedure with a high success rate.
Contact Us to Learn More About Balloon Sinuplasty
The thought of having any medical procedure is enough to make anyone anxious and reluctant to take advantage of one of the safest and most effective sinus infection solutions. Balloon sinuplasty patients treated by Dr. Alen Cohen heal and recover faster with little downtime and experience minimal pain or discomfort and long-term sinus symptom relief and infection treatment. Dr. Cohen has one of the lowest complication rates in the country from this procedure and has performed over 5000 procedures and trained multitudes of other doctors on this technique.
Sinus infections don’t have to live in your head, nor do they have to rule your life. If you or a loved one suffer from recurring sinus infections and are ready to learn treatment options, contact the Southern California Sinus Institute at (818) 888-7878 to see our ENT/Head and Neck Surgeon and sinus expert, Dr. Alen N. Cohen, MD, FACS, FARS.
