Grand Canyon Times

• Early intervention for sinus patients can lead to a better quality of life, while also reducing health care costs.
• Untreated sinusitis can lead to serious infections and even vision loss.
• A minimally invasive treatment option for sinusitis is balloon sinuplasty.

In treating sinusitis, it's important to intervene early to avoid further complications. With minimally invasive, in-office procedures, chronic sinusitis is possible to treat, even if it's mild, according to Dr. Brian Lee of Scottsdale Sinus and Allergy Center.

"Most of the patients, by the time they get to a specialist's office, they've already kind of been through the basic stuff, the allergy medications, the nasal sprays, antibiotics and steroids," Lee told Grand Canyon Times. "So that's usually the first level of treatment options. The next step up the ladder would be some type of procedural intervention, like the balloon sinuplasty."

"The procedure is great because it not only replaces the traditional kind of sinus surgery that has been done for the past 30 years, but it allows us to intervene earlier in the disease process, meaning that there may be some people with very mild or minimal sinus disease, which still really affects our quality of life," Lee said. "Five or ten years ago, people would say, well, it's not worth it to put you under general anesthesia and go in and scrape out your sinuses and put you through that horrendous recovery when your disease isn't that bad. So unfortunately, you're probably just gonna have to kind of suffer and deal with this stuff. But with the balloon sinuplasty, because it's so safe, it's minimally invasive, and the downtime is so minimal, it allows us to intervene, even for patients with mild disease, and to really improve their quality of life."

An early intervention for a sinus patient not only increases their immediate quality of life, but also improves long-term relief and reduces health care costs, according to the Official Journal of the American Academy of Otolaryngology. The earlier you get treated, the less you'll be spending on other problems that can result from sinusitis.

According to Mayo Clinic, serious complications can result from untreated sinusitis, such as vision loss or infections in the bones and skin.

A minimally invasive sinus treatment option, which comes with a quick recovery time, is a balloon sinuplasty. Healthline reported that balloon sinuplasty, also known as balloon catheter dilation surgery, is a procedure used to clear blocked sinuses. This surgery is relatively new, having been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2005. It’s also commonly referred to as the “smart sinus” procedure.

After a balloon sinuplasty, many people are able to return to their regular activities within a day or two. Some people even drive themselves home from the procedure, according to Healthline.

To learn more about the symptoms of sinusitis and allergies, take this Sinus Self-Assessment Quiz.