Causes of nasal polyps
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Nasal polyps are one of the common symptoms when the sinuses are inflamed and not treated promptly. Polyps that are too large will block the nasal passages and cause difficulty breathing, even loss of smell and other dangerous complications. Let’s find out more about this issue in the article below.

Causes of nasal polyps

According to medical studies, nasal polyps are conditions that occur in the lining of the nose and sinuses, including 4 empty cavities above and behind the nose. However, in essence, nasal polyps are not considered a pathology, more precisely it is the result of bacterial infections, viruses, allergies or the body’s immune responses to fight off diseases. bacteria.

Causes of nasal polyps
Polyps are formed due to a prolonged inflammatory and allergic process inside the nasal cavity

 

When the inflammation is not corrected in time, the tendency is even more severe, causing the disease to go into a chronic stage and increasing the permeability of blood vessels in the nasal sinus mucosa, leading to accumulation. water inside cells. Under the action of gravity and over a long period of time these hydrostatic tissues are pulled downwards, resulting in polyps.

Features of nasal polyps

The polyp is characterized by a benign, painless tumor that develops on the lining of the nose or sinus cavities. In particular, nasal polyps are not cancerous tumors as many people believe. In essence, it is monolithic, a soft, juicy, pale pink mass, inside which is linked to fibrous cells and contains mucus, resulting from local degeneration in the mucosa. nose or sinuses.

However, since the onset of polyps is usually very small and soft and painless, it is difficult for the patient to recognize that he or she is sick. According to experts, in the case of small polyps growing individually, it will not affect much health. Conversely, if the polyps are too large and grow in special locations such as nasal cavities, sinus cavities or slits, it is very dangerous, can cause frequent congestion and airway obstruction.

Features of nasal polyps
Nasal polyps are soft, juicy, pale pink in color, containing mucus inside

If this condition is not detected and treated in time, it will cause the nasal cavity to expand, the polyp will be protruding from the front nostril and stuck into the rear nostril, resulting in damage to the nasal cavity bone, causing deformation of the nasal cavity.

Experts have classified polyps into levels including:

  • Grade 1 nasal polyps : Polyps are small in size and almost impossible to detect with the naked eye, and can only be detected when performing a sinus endoscopy. At this stage, there will be no symptoms and no harm to the patient’s health.
  • Grade 2 nasal polyps : Polyps have grown larger, can be seen with the naked eye, then use a light shining directly into the nose.
  • Grade 3 nasal polyps: Nasal polyps are twice as big as in the first place and compress the nasal passages, making it difficult for the patient to breathe and have difficulty smelling. At this time, the nasal cavity appears with many small polyps.
  • Grade 4 nasal polyps : Polyps proliferate and develop very quickly that it covers all nasal cavities and protrudes out. At this point, the polyps become hard and cloudy and can block the airways.
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Is nasal polyps dangerous?

The patient can completely observe his own symptoms and the characteristics of the polyp block to assess the danger level of the disease. For example, small masses of polyps and growing alone will not have much effect on health.

But when polyps grow larger, grow more and intertwine, it can cause extremely dangerous complications such as:

  • Chronic sinusitis: When you have a chronic sinus infection with the appearance of nasal polyps, the disease will get worse and worse and go into the stage of chronic sinusitis that is difficult to treat.
  • Sleep Apnea Syndrome: When polyps are too large, proliferate and cover the nostrils, they will accidentally block the airways, making it difficult for the patient to breathe, even sleep apnea unconsciously (sleep apnea). .
  • Face deformation: Nasal polyps grow heavier over time, causing facial deformation due to damaged nose structure. Even causing double vision (double vision) or making the eyes are pulled apart. However, this dialectic is very rare and appears only in people with cystic fibrosis.
  • Aggravating asthma: When you have an acute stage of sinusitis with the appearance of nasal polyps, it will cause acute and chronic asthma attacks depending on the person, mainly in the elderly and young. small.
Is nasal polyps dangerous?
Increasing and growing polyps can cause extremely dangerous complications

Therefore, if any dangerous symptoms appear, it is recommended that the patient go to the medical facility for examination and timely treatment to avoid the severe deterioration of the disease.

Development of nasal polyps

Nasal polyps can form when the mucous membranes of the sinus cavities and in the nasal passages become infected. According to experts, if the symptoms and signs of infection are more effective than 12 weeks, a polyp will form. Nasal polyps can develop anywhere inside the nose or sinuses, but mostly near the sinuses.

Some of the other risk factors that can cause the formation of nasal polyps or increase polyps due to increasingly severe infections and allergies include:

  • Asthma: This is the main cause of inflammation and obstruction of the airways.
  • People who are allergic to aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory substances (NSAIDs) such as: ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve). Therefore, when you have concomitant nasal polyps and bronchial asthma, you should avoid using aspirin because it will increase the risk of sudden and dangerous breathing.
  • Due to allergies, fungal infections, bacteria in the air.
  • A genetic disorder that causes the body to secrete abnormal fluids, including mucus in the sinuses and nasal membranes, or suffer from cystic fibrosis.
  • Due to Churg – Strauss syndrome, this is a quite rare disease due to the appearance of vasculitis.

Other risk factors include:

  • Age: Occurrence of nasal polyps is more common in older people, usually over 40 years old.
  • Genetics: Studies show that genetics is also one of the reasons that increase the likelihood of developing nasal polyps.

Signs identify nasal polyps

Normally, if the nasal sinus mucosa is irritated and inflamed for about 12 weeks, the chronic sinus infection will be very likely to cause nasal polyps to appear. At this time, the patient can recognize by a number of the following signs:

  • Continuous runny nose
  • Frequent stuffy nose
  • Reduced or lost sense of smell.
  • Headache on one side of the face or head.
  • Loss of taste
  • Pain in the upper teeth
  • Have a chronic polycystitis.
  • Have frequent nosebleeds.
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Signs identify nasal polyps
The patient will often stuffy nose, difficulty breathing, nosebleeds, headache, loss of vision when polyps appear in the nose.

When should the patient go to the doctor?

Nasal polyps will become extremely dangerous if it is directly related to sinusitis, chronic allergic rhinitis or acute sinusitis … If not detected early and treated in time, it is very dangerous, causing it is difficult for a complete treatment process.

So see your doctor right away if your body develops any of the following signs:

  • Constantly having difficulty breathing, even unable to use the nose to breathe.
  • Nasal polyps are getting bigger and bigger, growing tightly inside the nasal cavity.
  • Facial muscle deformation, swelling around the eyes, reduced vision, less flexible eyes.
  • Having a high fever that does not decrease continuously, accompanied by dizziness, dizziness, dull headache.

Measures to diagnose nasal polyps

To diagnose the severity of polyps, your doctor will conduct an examination and diagnosis based on the following factors:

  • Conduct a symptom survey, check nose with the naked eye.
  • Endoscopy of the nasal cavity
  • Get the necessary tests to check for allergies
  • Diagnostic by imaging through CT scan, this is to determine the exact location and size of polyps.

Particularly for the case of children with polyps, it is necessary to perform some additional tests for cystic fibrosis disease. It is an inherited disease that affects the glands that produce mucus, sweat, tears, saliva, and digestive juices.

In addition, young children with nasal polyps with runny nose should be tested for skin allergy level so that the doctor has more important information for treatment. These tests are quite simple and do not take much time, only about 30 minutes.

Treatments for nasal polyps

According to experts, the main core of treatment for nasal polyps is controlling inflammation because this is the biggest cause of polyps formation. Once inflammation has subsided, the polyps will shrink and disappear over time.

Currently, the treatment methods for nasal polyps are divided into 2 main methods and 1 secondary method including:

Method 1: Medical treatment

Medical treatment is mainly based on drugs that can reduce inflammation, increase airflow through the nose and assist in shrinking polyps. This method is mainly indicated for cases of polyps that have just started, are small and have not grown much.

Commonly prescribed medications include:

  • Nasal sprays that contain corticosteroids like: Fluticasone (Flonase), Triamcinolone (Nasacort), Budesonide (Rhinocort), Flunisolide (Nasarel), Mometasone (Nasonex) …
  • Anti-infection and allergy medications that control the infection or allergy don’t get worse.
  • Antihistamines work against allergies when the body comes in contact with allergens. Some popular drugs such as Loratadin, Cetirizin, Fexofenadin … work to reduce allergy.
  • Antibiotics: Certain antibiotics, such as Augmentin, may be prescribed for a severe sinus infection.
  • Antifungal drugs: Some antifungal drugs are indicated for use such as Amphotericin B, Flucytosin, Ketoconazole, Griseofulvin … to prevent abnormal immune responses of the body to fungi in the air.

Method 2: Surgical treatment

When nasal polyps show no signs of atrophy, but also tend to get bigger and bigger despite many medications, the doctor will consider surgery to remove the polyp. Especially in the cases of patients with cystic fibrosis in the lungs with nasal corticoid resistant polyps, surgery is the only option.

Treatments for nasal polyps
Surgery is the last resort treatment when drugs have no effect on shrinking polyps

The procedure for surgery will be determined by the treating doctor after knowing the exact location and number of polyps.

  • Nasal polyps removal surgery: This surgery is mainly performed for small and growing polyps. Your doctor will use a mechanical device for direct aspiration or a microdebrider to scrape polyps. This method will cause pain and mild bleeding when the polyps separate from the nasal cavity.
  • Surgical endoscopic sinus (known in English as endoscopic sinus surgery): This method has the effect of open surgery and busier, not only can be removed by block polyps but also help to expand the cavity sinuses where blocks polyps are shaped Fort. At this point, the doctor will insert a small, soft endoscope and attach a camera device at the tip of the tube into the patient’s nose. Images of polyps in the nose will be displayed on the external screen and the doctor will use it to remove the polyps. The endoscopy method only makes a very small incision inside the nose, so the recovery process will be very quick and less painful.
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After the polyp is removed, the patient must treat the inflammation by using antibiotics and oral corticosteroids to overcome the infection.

Method 3: Cure nasal polyps with Oriental medicine

This is an adjunct to the treatment of nasal polyps in the case of mild and onset of the disease. According to Oriental medicine, nasal polyps occur due to welding, evil, wind, and heat attack at the same time in the body. Accompanying it is nephrotic disease, stasis can lead to power and weakness, causing evil air to penetrate.

If you want to treat the disease, you need to deepen the root cause of the disease, improve the function of your organs and improve the body’s resistance. Oriental remedies are usually very benign, ensuring safety due to the use of natural herbs. However, the downside of traditional oriental medicine for treating nasal polyps is that it takes a long time to get effective treatment.

In order to treat the disease completely, in addition to impacting deeply on the root cause, improving the function of the organs also needs to improve the body’s resistance and prevent the disease from recurring.

Some oriental medicine remedies for treating nasal polyps can be performed as:

Topical remedy

Preparation: Lotus, lotus, tassel and moth balls 0.8g each.

Doing:

  • The medicinal herbs bought are washed and blended together.
  • Mix well into a homogeneous mixture and apply on nasal polyps.
  • Persistently do this every day until a shrinking nasal polyps is observed.

Nasal inhaler remedy

­ Preparation: Apple cider vinegar, ginger and boiling water

Doing:

  • Place 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and a few slices of ginger in a bowl of boiling water.
  • Clean your nose with saline solution and flush out the nasal passages before inhaling.
  • Bring your nose closer to the bowl of boiling water at a reasonable distance to avoid burns from hot water.

In addition, patients can also perform air operation exercises to regulate the airways under the guidance of Oriental medicine specialists.

Measures to help prevent nasal polyps

According to experts, there is no way to completely prevent nasal polyps because nasal polyps can be congenital or develop during adulthood. However, to minimize the risk of forming or recurring nasal polyps after being treated with the following measures:

  • Avoid contact with the environment containing substances that easily irritate the nose, cause inflammation, sinusitis such as dust, cigarette smoke, the smell of chemicals …
  • Regularly sanitize hands with antibacterial soap to avoid spreading bacteria and viruses from those around you.
Measures to help prevent nasal polyps
Use normal saline every day to clean the nasal cavity to avoid inflammation
  • Use normal saline every day to clean your nose. The dilute salt water will help kill bacteria, reduce inflammation as well as soften dry and painful fluids in the nose. Not only that, but salt also helps to inhibit the production of the inflammatory substance Adiponectin in the body.
  • Build diet, activity and exercise scientifically to enhance the body’s resistance, immune system.
  • Regular hospital visits to control allergies and bronchial asthma.
  • Nasal polyps can completely return if they have favorable conditions even though the disease has been completely cured before. Therefore, patients need to pay close attention to health care, keep hygiene and periodically re-examine.

Nasal polyps is a very common condition and is one of the warning signs of dangerous complications of chronic sinusitis, allergic rhinitis … So, need immediate treatment to remove the previous nasal polyps. when it causes more dangerous complications.

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