What blocked sinuses look like

A patient complained of symptoms of a blocked nose, particularly the right side, and a chronic discharge due to chronic inflammation or sinusitis.

The red crosses on the face correspond with the red crosses on the CT scan below.

 

These red crosses show the painfully inflamed sinus lining nasal polyps. All the sinuses (cavities) should be open and airy and show up as black on the CT scan, as the healthy part of the left sinus. However, the spongy ridge of a polyp (seen as grey on the scan) blocks the upper part of the left sinus (the right hand red cross).

The two other crosses (on the left side of the picture) indicate the swollen and inflamed nasal linings and probably another polyp in the patient's upper right sinus (on the left half of the scan as seen by you, the reader).

The polyps were surgically removed. 

Compiled by Dr Martin Young, an ENT specialist based in Knysna.