Sinuses are cavities located in the skull bones. The human body has 4 sinuses. Inflammation of these, most commonly due to infection, is sinusitis. Sinusitis can thus be inflammation of one, two, three or all four sinuses together.

Sinusitis can be of two types:
Acute: Which lasts for 3 weeks or less
Chronic and recurrent: In which sinusitis persists beyond 3 weeks, continues for months or years and has acute episodes in between.

SYMPTOMS OF SINUSITIS
The most common symptom is pain in the head. We have listed here the common areas of sinusitis pain:
• Pain in the forehead, above the eyebrows.
• In the cheekbones, on either side of the nose. In severe cases, your upper jaw and teeth may ache.
• Between the eyes along with swelling of the eyelids and tissues around your eyes. Sometimes, the sides of your nose may feel tender to touch. A loss of smell, and a stuffy nose are other accompanying symptoms.
• Deep ache located at the top of the head along with earache and neck pain.

CHRONIC SINUSITIS
This is the most troublesome form of sinusitis. It is mostly allergic in nature and is seen together with other allergy conditions like allergic rhinitis and asthma. Important symptoms of chronic sinusitis are:
• Persistent daily headaches, of the type described above.
• Post nasal drip (PND). This is a condition in which the excess mucus passes out of the sinuses and travels through the back of the nose and keeps dripping onto the throat. PND makes the patient want to constantly clear the throat and in severe cases also leads to bad breath, chronic cough and nocturnal asthma.
• Stuffed nose
• Decreased sense of smell and taste
• Toothache
• Tiredness, lack of concentration, low productivity
Chronic sinusitis is an extremely common condition. Epidemiological studies have shown that nearly 40% of Indians have suffered from chronic sinusitis at some time in their life.

TREATMENT OF SINUSITIS AT HHC
It is quite easy to diagnose a patient suffering from sinusitis. A simple x-ray or a CT scan in severe conditions will be required to diagnose the condition. Chronic sinusitis is a condition, which can be cured to a very great extent. At the beginning of the treatment an x-ray is taken to know the amount of congestion in the sinuses and also whether any DNS or polyps are present. After beginning the medication and once the symptoms are relieved to a great extent, another x-ray maybe taken to study the reduction of the congestion in the sinuses. Two successive x-rays taken 6 months apart showing minimal or no congestion in the sinuses is generally an indication of a cure and there maybe no need for any further medication.