Do I Need Endoscopic Sinus Surgery?

When your sinuses become obstructed or infected, the results can be swift and debilitating.  Headaches, disrupted sleep, difficulty breathing, and fatigue are all-too-common responses.  If medications have failed, it is time to move onto some more aggressive treatments, including speaking to an expert ENT about sinus surgery.

Elsewhere this blog, I have already covered some of the big areas of sinus surgery – septal surgery, turbinate reduction surgery, and balloon sinuplasty.  Today I want to fill out that list with a brief primer on endoscopic sinus surgery, which is one of the most common areas of practice for sinus surgeons and the Los Angeles Sinus Institute specifically.

Endoscopic sinus surgery gets its name from two parts – endoscope, and sinus.  We all know what sinuses are – in this case, they are the root cause of your misery!  But the endoscope is worth a little more description.

An endoscope is a medical device that allows sinus surgeons (or any surgeon) to operate with extreme precision, by using small advanced tools and imaging technologies.  In plain English, an endoscope lets your surgeon complete an entire procedure without making any major incisions, as all the tools under endoscopic guidance can travel through narrow passages to the area of interest.  The surgery itself is performed remotely, guided by cameras, allowing your sinus surgeon total control without the need to create any scars.

Endoscopic sinus surgery is without question the most intricate and advanced of the major sinus procedures, as it can involve paring tissue and otherwise repairing your sinuses through physical alteration.  The procedure may be used for everything from removing polyps to clearing out diseased bone, and can last several hours depending upon the needs of the patient.

If you are a frequent sufferer of sinus infections and cannot seem to clear your obstructions through more passive approaches, however, endoscopic sinus surgery may be exactly what you need.  Get in touch with an expert sinus specialist today for a consultation.

Tags: endoscopic sinus surgery, ent, polyp removal, sinus infections, sinus surgery, sinusitis