Symptoms Of Sinus Infection
Sinusitis, or sinus infection, is caused by an inflammation of the sinuses and nasal passages.
Sinus infection, or sinusitis, is an inflammation of the sinuses and nasal passages.
Occuring either in the frontal, maxillary, ethmoid, or sphenoid sinuses, sinus infection symptoms include headache or pressure in the eyes, nose, cheek, or on the side of the head; cough, fever, bad breath, and nasal congestion is also common.
There are two types of sinus infection, either acute - a sudden onset- or chronic, which is long term and the most common form of sinusitis.
Sinus Infection Symptoms
The signs and symptoms of sinus infections depends on which of the sinuses is infected, and whether or not the sinus infection is acute or chronic. This is a list of the most common sinus infection symptoms:
Acute Sinusitis:
Ethmoid sinusitis - nasal congestion, pain or pressure at the inner corner of the eye or down one side of the nose, headache in the temple or surrounding the eye, pain/pressure that becomes worse when coughing, straining, or lying on the back,and fever.
Maxillary sinusitis - pain across cheekbones, under or around the eyes, or around the upper teeth, pain or pressure on one or both sides of the face, tender, red, or swollen cheekbones, pain and pressure when head is upright, fever, postnasal drip.
Sphenoid sinusitis - deep headache behind or on top of the head, across the forehead, and behind the eyes, fever, double vision, nasal discharge, bad breath.
Chronic Sinusitis:
Ethmoid sinusitis - chronic nasal discharge, obstruction, and low–grade discomfort across the bridge of the nose, pain worse when wearing glasses or during the late morning, sore throat, bad breath.
Maxillary sinusitis - pressure below the eyes, toothache, increased cough at night.
Frontal sinusitis - persistent, low-grade headache in forehead, history of trauma or damage to sinus area.
Sphenoid sinusitis - low-grade general headache.
The sinuses contain defenses against foreign bacteria (germs). If a disruption occurs that affects the normal host defenses inside the sinuses, those defenses may allow bacteria, which are normally present in the nasal passages, to enter any of the sinuses. Once there, the bacteria may stick to the lining cells and cause a sinus infection.
Chronic sinusitis tends to last longer than eight weeks, or occurs more than four times per year with sinus infection symptoms lasting 20 days or more. Acute sinus infections, on the other hand, tend to last less than eight weeks or occur no more than three times per year, with symptoms usually lasting no longer than 10 days.
There are many medications you can find at your local drug store that will treat acute sinusitis, though chronic sinus infections must be dealt with by a doctor.