aka Rhinitis and/or Sinusitis
Lay media has created a lot of confusion and misconceptions with their generalized use of the word “sinus”. Symptoms ranging from a blocked nose, itching, sneezing and a postnasal discharge (“sinus drip”) to headaches, pain in the face and even a sore throat, swallowing disorders and nose bleeds will all be blamed on “sinus”.
So, what is “sinus”?
Let me try to give more clarity by first explaining a bit of anatomy: when thinking of the nose in medical terms, we have to look beyond the aesthetic protrusion above the upper lip. The inside of the nose or the “nasal cavity” is the important part when it comes to breathing, smelling, disease and ailments. This irregularly shaped cavity is much larger than what is commonly thought – have a look at the following video:
The inside of this nasal cavity or passage is rather complex. As you could see in the video,it consists of two passages (one on each side) separated by a bony wall called the nasal septum. Each side has two prominent and one smaller protrusions from the side, called turbinates, which increase the surface area of the nasal mucosa. The turbinates can also dynamically shrink and expand to increase or decrease the flow rate of air through the nose. This allows air to be warmed and humidified before it enters the throat and lungs. It also filters the air, taking out a large percentage of pollutant particles, dust, viruses and bacteria to protect the lower airways. The nose, as far as breathing is concerned, is therefor actually an air conditioner with a very sophisticated self-regulatory mechanism which controls the amount of swelling and the amount of mucus secretion to maintain optimal functioning. Whenever these control mechanisms go wrong, we get the symptoms which are erroneously called “sinus”.
Not “sinus”, rather call it “rhinitis”
The better and more specific term for this condition is “rhinitis”, which comes from the Greek word “rhinos” meaning “nose” and the suffix “-itis” indicating “inflammation”. Rhinitis can be caused by allergies, environmental factors like pollution, cigarette smoke, temperature and humidity, as well as infections from viruses and bacteria. Typical symptoms would be one or more of a blocked nose, a runny nose, itching, sneezing, a postnasal discharge or sometimes a very dry nose. Blockage of the nose can also lead to headaches and pain in the face. As a result of poor air conditioning, a variety of throat and chest symptoms can also occur. Rhinitis almost always requires medical treatment rather than surgery, except if there are simultaneous disease of the sinuses or structural abnormalities in the nose (like a skew nasal septum).
More functions of the nose
A second function of the nose is smelling (which also forms a major part of taste). The area of the nose responsible for smell (olfactory region) is very small and is located in the smallest and narrowest parts of the nose. Quite understandable then that your sense of smell will deteriorate when your nose is blocked!
Opening into the nose are a number of air filled cavities in the bones of the face known as the sinuses or paranasal sinuses. The sinuses and their diseases are closely linked to the nose, but they will be dealt with in another chapter.
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