Nasal polyps are soft, painless growths in the lining of your nasal passages or sinuses. They hang like tears or grapes. A nasal polyp is a benign (noncancerous) tumor that grows from the lining of the nose or sinuses. These polyps usually occur in both the right and left nasal passages and block airflow. It can make your nose feel stuffy and reduce your sense of smell. Not all growths in the nose are polyps.
Nasal polyps can result from chronic (long-term) inflammation of the nasal lining, although it is usually not due to any obvious cause. People with chronic hay fever (allergic rhinitis) are more likely than others to developnasal polyps. Additionally, nasal polyps often develop in children with cystic fibrosis.
Symptoms
The main symptoms of nasal polyps include:
Difficulty breathing through your nose
Constant discharge from your nose
Persistent congestion and facial discomfort
Frequent sinus infections
Loss of smell
Get medical help right away if:
p>Serious trouble breathing
Sudden worsening of symptoms
Double vision, reduced vision, or limited ability to move your eyes
Severe swelling around the eyes
Severe headache that increases with high fever or inability to move your head forward.
Causes
Scientists do not yet fully understand the cause of nasal polyps. It is not clear why some people experience chronic inflammation or why ongoing inflammation triggers polyp formation in some people and not in others.
Diagnosis
Your doctor will ask about your medical history. He or she will probably ask if you have hay fever, asthma, or an aspirin allergy.
The doctor, usually an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat specialist), will examine your nose and look for translucent masses that are yellow to gray in color. He can usually detect polyps by examining your nasal congestion with a special instrument called a nasal endoscope, a small, flexible tube attached to a camera.
Sometimes, a computerized tomography (CT) scan can be used to determine the location and size of polyps. CT scan to see if polyps come from nose or sinuses He will also tell you what it is.
Nasal polyps occur almost on both sides. If a polyp is only seen on one side, a CT scan should be done to make sure the growth is not something more serious. The scan can also accurately show the size of the growth.
In addition to examining your nasal passages, your doctor will ask about your medical history. He or she will probably ask if you have hay fever or allergic rhinitis, asthma, or an aspirin allergy.
Prevention
You can help reduce the chance of developing nasal polyps or having nasal polyps reoccur after being treated with these strategies:
Manage allergies and asthma. Follow your doctor's treatment recommendations for managing asthma and allergies. If your symptoms are not well controlled, talk to your doctor about changing your treatment plan.
Avoid nasal irritants. Whenever possible, avoid breathing airborne substances that may contribute to inflammation or irritation of the nose and sinuses, such as allergens, tobacco smoke, chemical fumes, dust, and fine debris.
Practice good hygiene. Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly. This is one of the best ways to protect against bacterial and viral infections that can cause inflammation of the nasal passages and sinuses.
Humidify your home. If the air in your home tends to be dry, use a humidifier. This can help moisten your respiratory passages, improve mucus flow from the sinuses, and help prevent congestion and inflammation.
Use a nasal rinse or nasal lavage. Use a salt water (saline) spray to rinse your nasal passages. This can increase mucus flow and remove allergens and other irritants.
If you make your own rinse, use distilled, sterile, pre-boiled and cooled water or water with a pore size of 1 micron or less to create the irrigation solution. filter using a filter. Also, after each use, be sure to rinse with similarly distilled, sterile, pre-boiled and cooled or filtered water and leave it open to air-dry.
Treatment
If the nasal polyps are small, your doctor ko He or she may prescribe a nasal spray containing steroids. This medication slowly shrinks the polyps.
Surgery may use a small tube for surgery. This eliminates the need to make an external incision on the face. The surgeon will send some of the polyp tissue to a laboratory for closer examination. In rare cases, what appears to be one polyp may turn out to be something else.
Most often, people with nasal polyps have both nostrils. If an adenoid is in only one nostril, then the polyp should be removed or a biopsy should be taken to make sure it is not something else.
Prognosis
Nasal Many people with polyps can control their symptoms with medication and allergy treatments.
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