Imagine walking around with intense nasal pressure. With a constant stuffy nose or even bad breath. Millions of sinusitis sufferers deal with similar symptoms yearly. When antibiotics and nasal drips fail, could a simple surgical be the option?

1. Smoking harms FESS surgery

For the surgery to be a success, patients must prepare. An essential factor of an unseccesful surgery is smoking. A study by Massachusetts Eye and Ear revealed smokers experience worse sinus symptoms than non-smokers. Smoking also reverses the effectiveness of FESS surgery. Even second-hand smoke impact sinuses. Smoking must stop a few weeks before and after surgery to experience improved sinus function.

2. FESS is not a cure

Despite the success of the surgery, FESS may not cure sinusitis. The procedure treats conditions medicine is unable to fix. Patients still need a medicine regimen to manage flare-ups. But after FESS surgery, flare-ups reduce significantly. From time to time, surgeons do a second procedure. So expect FESS to help, but not completely remove sinus troubles.

3. Know the risks involved

With a 90% success rate since the 1950s, FESS surgery is a safe method to relieve chronic rhinosinusitis. However small, FESS surgery poses possible risks. For example, a chance of infection at the surgery site, bleeding, numbness or swelling. The biggest risk of FESS is a decreased sense of smell after surgery. Despite the low odds, patients should still know the risks beforehand.

Trust FESS surgery to help

Doctors first try non-surgical methods to treat chronic sinusitis. If unsucessful, then FESS surgery is the safest surgical solution. If a surgeon recommends FESS, knowing the facts can put patients at ease. More importantly, FESS can make breathing easy again.