Sinus Surgery

Dr. Alen Cohen and Dr. Jerome Vener at C/V ENT Surgical Group, serving the Los Angeles and Thousand Oaks areas, are experts at the diagnosis and management of various conditions affecting the nose and sinuses. Allergies are a common cause of inflammation of the lining of the nasal cavities and sinuses in Southern California leading to such problems as chronic nasal obstruction, nasal drainage, watery or itchy eyes, itchy ears, facial pain or headaches and sinus pressure. When this problem continues for more than 3 months, then it is termed chronic allergic rhinosinusitis.

At this point evaluation by a head and neck surgeon is critical to perform various tests to determine what you may be allergic to and how your symptoms may best be treated. Often times this evaluation may involve allergy testing to identify what triggers your allergies, nasal endoscopy to look inside your nose and sinuses as well as a CT scan of the sinuses to determine the severity of your nasal or sinus inflammation and whether surgery would be beneficial to alleviate some of these symptoms.

There are four paired sinuses within the head and neck region which are normally air-filled, these are the frontal sinuses (in the forehead), maxillary sinuses (in the cheeks), ethmoid sinuses (between the eyes) and the sphenoid sinuses (at the base of skull in the back of the nose). These sinuses all normally drain via small holes called ostia into the nasal cavity. There are also turbinates in the nose which are along the sidewall of the nose on each side and they quite often get congested and weep mucous in patients with severe allergies. The septum is made of bone and cartilage and is the dividing wall between the two sides of the nose. Some patients develop nasal congestion simply due to a deviated septum and large turbinates which can be easily corrected with simple outpatient surgery. When allergies are bad in certain patients or they get an acute infection, the sinus ostia (drainage holes) can get blocked and as a result the sinus or sinuses will fill up with mucus leading to pressure or pain. The drainage from the nose will also be often discolored yellow or green in nature. If this is an acute problem from an acute infection then antibiotics, decongestants and/or nasal steroid sprays may cure the problem, however if this is a chronic or recurring problem then evaluation via nasal endoscopy and CT scanning will determine if surgery would help relieve the problem.

Minimally Invasive Image-guided Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

This is an outpatient procedure where no cuts are made on the face and the entire procedure is performed with the aid of endoscopes inserted through the nose to widen the various sinus drainage ostia and remove any disease within the sinuses to help them ventilate with air as it normally should. (read more)

Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

This procedure is now termed Minimally Invasive Image-Guided Endoscopic Sinus Surgery and more information can be obtained under that heading on this website.

Septoplasty

This is one of the most common procedures performed to improve nasal obstruction when necessary. The septum is made of bone and cartilage and is the dividing wall between the two nasal passages. (read more)

Submucous Resection of Inferior Turbinates

The turbinates are curved ridges along the sidewall of the nose on each side and are involved in humidification and filtration of the air we breathe in. There are 3 sets of turbinates on each side of the nose. (read more)

Nasal Polypectomy

Nasal polyps are a difficult problem that affect a certain percentage of patients with severe chronic allergic rhinosinusitis. Often times these patients may also have asthma, eczema or aspirin sensitivity in addition to nasal polyposis. (read more)

Allergy Treatment

If the problem with your nose and sinus symptoms is deemed to be simply allergies causing inflammation of the nasal cavity without significant sinus obstruction, then medical treatment options may be pursued to minimize the body’s inflammatory reaction to these allergens. (read more)