If you’re suffering from sinusitis, we know just how painful the face swelling and congestion can be. While antibiotics in pill form often help, you might also experience unwanted side effects, such as nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain. If you want a solution that goes straight to the problem, a compounded antibiotic nasal rinse is an effective solution.
What is Sinusitis?
Put simply, sinusitis occurs when your sinus tissues are inflamed and your mucus production increases. Sinuses are hollow spaces near your nose and forehead. Sinusitis is on e of the most common health conditions that affects over 40 million Americans each year.
While sinusitis isn’t always an infection, bacteria can cause sinus inflammation. Often, bad bacteria can infect these areas, leading to swelling (inflammation). The inflamed tissues don’t allow your mucus to drain properly, which causes congestion. These are the most common symptoms of sinusitis:
- Inflammation in the nostrils
- Runny nose with thick, discolored discharge
- Pain, swelling, or pressure around the eyes, cheeks, nose, and forehead
- Postnasal drip
- Bad breath
- Cough
- Fever
- Ear pain
- Headaches
Acute vs. Chronic Sinusitis
Both acute and chronic sinusitis can cause the same symptoms of pain, swelling, and congestion. The difference is usually in how long each condition lasts and the causes for each.
Acute sinusitis tends to last four weeks or less. Bacteria, viruses, or fungi tend to cause most acute sinusitis infections. It often persists after viral infections, like the cold or flu.
Chronic sinusitis lasts 90 days or more. This inflammation is constant and it’s often exacerbated by allergies, nasal blockages, or irritants like smoke. In these cases, your doctor might order a CT scan or perform an endoscopy to determine how far the inflammation has spread and whether you have any nasal blockages such as polyps. Allergy tests are another common exam—certain allergens could be inflaming your sinuses.
Years of extensive technological research has brought about the creation of compounded medications for sinusitis. Topical administration of sinusitis medications such as antibiotics, antifungals and steroids have gained increasing popularity as an alternative to systemic oral therapies. Topical delivery may minimize the side effects seen with systemic oral agents that non-specifically deliver medicine to the entire body. Our topical delivery platform delivers sinusitis medications locally to the sinonasal mucosa, the direct site and probable source of the problem. Many researchers believe topical delivery of antibiotics, antifungals and corticosteroids with saline is a more effective method to deliver sinus medications.”
Examples of drug classes available for use in a nasal rinse, alone or in combination:
- Antibiotics
- Antifungals
- Anti-Viral
- Steroids
- Anti-Inflammatory
- Anti-Histamine
- Mucolytic
- Decongestant
People who may benefit from topical pharmaceutical therapy delivered by a nasal sinus rinse include but are not limited to the following:
- Post-operative sinus surgery patients with recurrent nasal polyps
- Post-sinus surgery patients with chronic nasal crusting and infection
- Patients with anosmia and other rhinologic conditions
- Patients suffering from recalcitrant allergic rhinitis
