Non-surgical options for sinus problems

Our approach at the Nasal and Sinus Center begins with the belief that very few such problems require surgical therapy. Malignant tumors, severe infections involving the eye, brain, facial bones, or blood stream are definitely surgical problems. However, almost all other nasal and sinus problems first require non-surgical therapy. Allergies and chronic sinus infections are the most common problems that we see, and most patients have tried different types of medical therapies, usually with mixed results. Many of our patients also have structural problems such as septal deviation, turbinate enlargement, air-filled turbinates, septal perforations, polyps, and adenoid enlargement. If the patient has not tried appropriate medical treatment, we start there. Even patients with structural problems may respond to this and get back to a reasonable quality of life. We use a host of non-surgical options and always lean heavily on our custom-made topical treatments with antihistamines, antibiotics, antifungals, and steroids. Patients who do not respond to the topical therapy may benefit from oral medicines and we may even go several weeks with antibiotic therapy when appropriate. Quality of life is the best measure of effectiveness for our therapy, and when the medical therapies fail, we can consider minimally-invasive procedures. Persistant nasal stuffiness can be permanently relieved with a simple, in-office procedure done with local anesthesia to reduce the size of the inferior turbinates. Nasal lesions and even polyps may be easily removed in the office without general anesthesia. We are extremely excited about being the first in Central Texas to introduce the Finess procedure in the office with local anesthesia. This new balloon technology allows us to open impacted sinuses without any tissue removal, virtually eliminating the risk of scarring. As you can see, we have an extensive array of non-surgical alternatives at the Nasal and Sinus Center of Austin.