When you begin to feel intense facial pain and pressure, congestion and coughing, and a general sense of malaise originating from the discomfort in your head and face, chances are you have developed a sinus infection. Sinus infections can be tricky for some people because the symptoms are often quite similar to those of allergy flare-ups and the common cold. However, once you do go to the doctor and get diagnosed, you may wonder what your treatment options are. And, if you have sinus infections frequently, knowing your various treatment options can be even more important. Get to know some of these options so that you can get rid of your sinus infection and get feeling better as soon as possible.
Antibiotics and Other Medications
When your doctor diagnoses you with a sinus infection (also commonly referred to as sinusitis), they will also attempt to determine what is causing your infection. There are bacterial, viral, and fungal sinus infections, each of which would require a different treatment program.
Bacterial infections are the most commonly diagnosed and are the easiest of the three types of sinus infections to treat. These sinus infections are treated with a round of antibiotics that generally last between 10 days and two weeks. Along with those antibiotics, a person can also take allergy medicine, decongestants, and pain relievers such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen to help with symptoms.
Viral sinus infections, on the other hand, are much like the common cold in that the symptoms can be treated but the actual virus will need to work itself out of your system on its own. Fungal sinus infections may require the use of intravenous antifungal medications administered in a doctor's office through IV injection.
Surgical Treatment Options
When people suffer from chronic sinus infections or they have serious fungal sinus infections, the use of medications alone may not be enough to get rid of the infection. This often leads doctors to recommend surgical options.
For fungal sinus infections, surgery is often required to remove the fungal tissue from the sinus cavities. This, paired with IV antifungal medications, will help to cure the sinus infection completely and is often used when the fungal sinus infection has been previously misdiagnosed as bacterial and subsequently allowed to worsen. Almost any case of fungal sinusitis is going to require surgery in some form.
Surgery is also an option for people who have chronic sinus infections or repeated problems with acute sinus infections. These surgical techniques focus on removing blockages from the nasal and sinus cavities that could be causing infections to develop due to buildup. The surgeries can also widen sinus cavities and passages so that fluid can flow more freely and therefore not as easily become infected.
Now that you have a few ideas about the options available to you to treat your sinus infection, you can get started in your treatment regimen as soon as possible. Remember that there are multiple types of sinus infections that require different treatments, so be sure to tell your doctor if you are not significantly improved after you take any antibiotics prescribed. You may simply need a different type of treatment.
For professional sinus treatment, contact an office such as Asthma And Allergy Center.
Share20 November 2015
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