What is Sinus Infection?
Sinus infection (or sinusitis) begins with inflammation, or swelling of your sinuses. When working properly, your sinuses are filled with air but when the sinuses become blocked and filled with mucus, bacteria loves to grow and cause infection. This infection is sinusitis. We have four pairs of sinuses – the frontal, maxillary, ethmoid, and sphenoid sinuses (see diagram below). The sinuses are lined with tiny glands that secrete a thin layer of mucus which sweeps bacteria and other foreign particles out of the sinuses and into the nose through pinpoint openings called ostia. If these ostia become blocked, the sinuses fill up with mucus. When bacteria grow in this mucus, the sinuses become infected and sinusitis occurs.
What Are the Symptoms of Sinus Infection?
Symptoms sinus infection include the following:
- A cold that won't go away
- Congestion
- Thick, yellow nasal discharge
- Pressure or pain around the face and eyes
- Headache (generally in the forehead area)
- Nasal obstruction
- Post Nasal drip
- Fever or cough that may or may not be present
Keep in mind that these symptoms can also be seen with a cold. But if the pain around your face and eyes and the thick nasal discharge continue for more than a week, you may have a sinus infection.
According to Dr. Neil L. Kao, vice chairman of the rhinitis and sinusitis committee of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, doctors can figure out the cause of sinusitis through various methods. They can take a mucus sample from the nose through endoscopy or by using a swab from the nasal lining. They can also take an X-ray. However, "The problem with all of these is that they are expensive and time-consuming," said Kao.
What Causes Sinusitis?
Any condition that blocks off the sinus drainage channels can cause a sinus infection. Sinusitis may occur after a cold or may result from physical problems such as a deviated septum: a bend in the structure that divides the nasal cavity. If not treated, a sinus infection can last for many weeks or even months.
The sinuses are connected to the nose and contain tiny little hairs called cilia. The cilia beat constantly to help move the mucus produced in the sinuses into the respiratory tract. This action helps to clear the tract of debris or any unwanted organisms which may be present. When the lining of the sinuses are inflamed, the swelling interferes with the normal flow of mucus. Trapped mucus can then fill the sinuses, causing an uncomfortable sensation of pressure and providing an excellent environment for the growth of infection-causing bacteria.
Are there different types of sinus infection?
Doctors tend to classify sinusitis into three types; acute sinus infection, subacute sinus infection, and chronic sinus infection. They may prescribe antibiotics.
These classifications are made according to the severity of the sinus infection and the length of time it lasts.
Acute sinusitis is usually classified when the symptoms come on fast and get rapidly worse. Acute Sinusitis usually lasts less than a month. Subacute sinus infections have a milder rate of change in the onset and severity of your symptoms, but they have a longer duration. If your sinus infection lasts longer than 3 weeks to a month but clears up in less than 3 months, you could define it as a subacute sinusitis. Chronic sinusitis can last indefinitely. If your sinusitis doesn't seem to improve with time and has constant and severe symptoms and seems to only be controlled rather than getting better, then you probably have chronic sinusitis. If a chronic sinus infection is not treated and contained then it can reoccur every time the immune system is compromised!
Infectious versus noninfectious sinusitis
Your sinusitis may be infectious or noninfectious. Mainly infectious sinusitis is caused by a virus, though it may also have a bacterial cause. You can pass this sinus infection on to another person. Noninfectious cases are caused by external irritants and allergies and are more likely to develop into chronic sinusitis.
Sinusitis in the different sinus areas
Sinusitis can also be classified by where it is located within your sinus cavities. A sinus infection may be concentrated in the frontal sinuses; which are in the forehead above the eyes, the maxillary sinuses, located in the cheekbones, the ethmoid sinuses, at the bridge of the nose, or the sphenoid sinuses, between the eyebrows. When you have a sinus infection in the maxillary sinuses there is often more facial pain involved, sometimes even jaw pain. Maxillary sinusitis produces symptoms such as sinus pressure below the eyes, tender cheekbones (may be red and swollen) and often the symptoms are worse when the head is upright and then improve when the person reclines.
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