Comprehensive Care for Chronic Nasal Issues
Many patients suffer from chronic nasal allergies, congestion, recurring sinus infections, and sinus pressure, facial pain, and other persistent sinusitis symptoms, often finding little relief despite multiple doctor visits. At Sinus & Snoring Specialists, our ear, nose, and throat specialists are experienced in sinus and nasal treatments using advanced non-surgical and minimally invasive techniques that have helped thousands find lasting relief. Whether you’re dealing with chronic sinusitis, chronic sinus infections, nasal polyps, a deviated septum, or ongoing allergy symptoms, our team is committed to identifying the underlying cause of your other symptoms and creating a personalized treatment plan that provides lasting relief.
As members of the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy, our specialists offer state-of-the-art allergy treatments, including comprehensive allergy testing, immunotherapy, and medical management. Our office is a recognized center of excellence, providing in-depth training to ear, nose, and throat physicians nationwide on balloon sinuplasty and other advanced minimally invasive techniques. To ensure an accurate diagnosis, we also offer comprehensive in-office diagnostic capabilities, including a low-dose Xoran MiniCAT CT scanner, allowing us to evaluate your sinuses, nasal passages, and overall nasal anatomy in one convenient location before recommending the most effective sinus infection treatment or other treatment options.
Sinus And Nasal Treatments We Offer
Office Procedures for Sinus and Nasal Issues:
- Balloon Sinuplasty
- Endoscopic Turbinate Reduction
- Endoscopic Sinus and Nasal Surgery
- Vasomotor Rhinitis
- Septoplasty
- Polyp Removal
- Fungal Sinusitis Treatment
- Rhinoplasty
- VIVAER® Nasal Airway Remodeling
Medical Therapies for Sinus and Nasal Issues:
Allergy Testing and Treatments
Many cases of recurring sinus infections, nasal congestion, a runny nose, and other severe symptoms are triggered by environmental allergies. At our Allergy Center, we provide comprehensive allergy testing and personalized treatment to help identify the source of your symptoms and reduce ongoing inflammation affecting your sinuses and nasal passages. Our services include allergy drop immunotherapy, a convenient alternative to traditional allergy shots that treat the underlying cause of allergies rather than simply masking symptoms.
Important: While allergy medications, nasal sprays, and other medications can temporarily relieve symptoms, they do not prevent allergies and often only mask symptoms while requiring long-term or indefinite use. Immunotherapy, such as allergy drops, works by helping your immune system build tolerance to environmental allergens, reducing allergic reactions over time. Most patients complete treatment in approximately three years and experience lasting improvement in their symptoms.
In addition to allergy drops, our ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists expertly combine allergy drop immunotherapy with carefully selected allergy medications, steroid nasal sprays, and other medical therapies when appropriate. This individualized approach helps reduce sinus inflammation, improve sinus drainage, and prevent recurring sinus infections, creating a customized treatment plan for each patient’s unique needs.
Non-Allergy Related Treatment
Not every case of nasal congestion, runny nose, recurring sinus infection, or chronic sinusitis is caused by allergies. Some patients continue to experience persistent sinus symptoms even after negative allergy testing. At Sinus & Snoring Specialists, our ear, nose, and throat specialists perform a thorough evaluation to determine the underlying cause of your symptoms and recommend the most appropriate sinus and nasal treatment.
Possible causes include:
Local Allergic Rhinitis (LAR)
A true nasal allergy that may not be detected by skin or blood tests. Despite negative allergy testing, patients can still experience symptoms, runny nose, nasal congestion, and recurring sinus infections. This condition can be treatable with allergy drops formulated based on seasonal exposures like weeds, grasses, molds, dust, and pet dander.
Vasomotor Rhinitis
An allergy-like reaction triggered by changes in temperature, humidity, or barometric changes rather than allergens. Treatment may include prescription nasal sprays containing ipratropium bromide to help control symptoms, although these medications often require daily doses and may cause nasal dryness. We also offer a minimally invasive, in-office nerve-targeting procedure that reduces hyperactive nerve activity causing symptoms, providing long-term relief with minimal downtime. This procedure takes about 15 minutes under IV sedation in our office. There is no significant recovery and patients are back to normal activity the next day.
Structural Issues
Conditions such as persistent sinus problems, difficulty breathing, and recurring sinus infection. These conditions include chronic sinusitis, a deviated septum, turbinate hypertrophy, nasal polyps, and fungal sinusitis. Because these conditions often mimic allergy symptoms, our ENT specialists personally evaluate all patients personally to ensure accurate diagnosis and develop a personalized treatment plan. Minimally invasive office procedures under IV sedation, like turbinate reduction and polyp removal, are available. Our specialists can perform video nasal endoscopy at the time of your visit or procedure to obtain a culture and guide your therapy. For certain bacterial sinus infections and chronic sinus infections, they can also perform a custom antibiotic sinus wash, called lavage, to evacuate the sinus infection and irrigate the sinus cavity with antibiotics. This specialized sinus infection treatment is often performed in conjunction with sinus balloon dilation to restore healthy sinus drainage, reduce sinus inflammation, and help treat chronic sinusitis with minimal recovery time.
Balloon Sinuplasty
Balloon Sinuplasty is a minimally invasive, nonsurgical sinus and nasal treatment that opens blocked sinuses to relieve chronic sinusitis, recurring sinus infections, sinus pressure, facial pain, other sinusitis symptoms, and even migraines. Also known as sinus balloon dilation, this advanced procedure restores normal sinus drainage by gently inflating a small balloon within the blocked sinus opening. It is performed under IV sedation in our state-of-the-art procedure room. The procedure involves inflating a tiny balloon inside sinus drainage pathways to restore natural airflow without packing or stents.
- About 15-minute procedure time
- Immediate improvement in breathing and sinus pressure for most patients
- Minimal discomfort and quick recovery and most patients return to work the following day
- No bruising or swelling like traditional surgery
Research shows a 97.5% success rate with significant long-term relief and reduced need for antibiotics and doctor visits.
Sinus and Nasal Surgery
Modern sinus and nasal treatment has advanced significantly, making many procedures more comfortable than ever before. Today, procedures such as septoplasty, turbinate reduction, and polyp removal can be performed in-office with IV sedation with minimal downtime and without the discomfort of traditional nasal packing or splints.
In the past, patients with chronic sinusitis often underwent prolonged medical therapy before being referred for an invasive surgery. At Sinus & Snoring Specialists, our ENT specialists can avoid these invasive procedures and instead do balloon sinuplasty, typically in conjunction with correction of a deviated septum, turbinate reduction, and removal of nasal polyps when appropriate. This minimally invasive technique will cure the chronic sinusitis 97.5% of the time without invasive surgery of the sinus being performed.
In rare cases, advanced chronic sinusitis, severe scarring, or damage from longstanding infection may require functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS). In these instances, the natural outflow tract has been destroyed by the infection and balloon dilation alone will not be successful. We can treat this condition with a hybrid approach that combines balloon dilation with targeted minimally invasive surgical therapy to preserve as much healthy tissue as possible. These procedures can be performed in our office procedure room under IV sedation, typically take less than 15 minutes, and most patients can resume work the next day. There is no packing, splinting, or plastic placed in the nose. Most patients do not require pain medication. Serious complications following FESS are very rare.
Nasal Valve Collapse
At Sinus & Snoring Specialists, we offer FDA-approved VIVAER® radiofrequency treatment, a minimally invasive, non-surgical option that remodels the nasal valve to improve airflow without incisions or tissue removal. This quick in-office procedure helps many patients breathe more easily, reduce nasal obstruction, and enjoy long-lasting relief with minimal downtime.
Septoplasty
The septum is the divider between the two nasal cavities, and it can become crooked due to abnormal growth, injury, or trauma. A deviated septum is a common cause of chronic nasal congestion, breathing difficulty, and recurring sinus infections, and other persistent symptoms. Our ENT Specialists can perform modern minimally invasive Endoscopic Septoplasty which can be performed right in the office with intravenous sedation. Our office pioneered techniques that do not require any intranasal packing or splinting, allowing patients to enjoy minimal discomfort, rapid recovery, and very little downtime. By correcting a deviated septum, this procedure improves airflow through the nose and is often combined with other sinus and nasal treatment procedures, such as balloon sinuplasty or turbinate reduction, to provide long-lasting relief.
Endoscopic Turbinate Reduction
Swollen turbinate are one of the most common causes of chronic nasal congestion and difficulty breathing. These natural structures inside the nasal passages help warm, humidify, and filter the air you breathe. However, allergies, infection, chronic irritation, or prolonged use of certain nasal sprays can cause them to stay persistently swollen despite maximal medical therapy. The reduction of the swollen nasal turbinates can now be performed by a minimally invasive technique similar to liposuction as an office procedure. They can be safely reduced in minutes to allow for free-breathing using this technique. Painless and with essentially no recovery the patient is right back to normal activity the next day. This technique does not carry the risk of an overly dry nose or “empty nose syndrome” that the old techniques could cause. It is typically performed under IV sedation in our office and may be combined with balloon sinuplasty.
Polypectomy – Polyp Removal
Recurring nasal polyps can contribute to chronic sinusitis, recurring sinus infections, and nasal congestion, reduced airflow, and a reduced sense of smell. Extensive surgical therapies over many years can be painful and expensive. Today, modern office-based polypectomy procedures can be done safely and with comfort using intravenous sedation without the need for general anesthesia in our procedure room. This minimally invasive procedure is frequently combined with Balloon Sinuplasty to restore healthy sinus drainage, improve breathing, and help treat chronic sinusitis while minimizing downtime. Comprehensive management in our Allergy Testing and Treatment Center, can also dramatically reduce the risk of future polyp recurrence and improve your overall sinus health.
Fungal Sinusitis Treatment
Fungal sinusitis is a unique type of sinus infection caused by fungal organisms rather than bacteria or viruses. Unlike many bacterial sinus infections, fungal infections typically do not respond to traditional antibiotics or standard medical therapies alone. Left untreated, it can lead to persistent sinus inflammation, chronic sinus symptoms, facial pain, sinus pressure, and recurring infections.
Our ENT Specialists use a comprehensive approach involving Balloon Sinuplasty, minimally invasive polyp removal using a microdebrider, antifungal topical therapies, and personalized allergy management to relieve this condition with minimal recovery and lasting results. Our advanced treatment approach helps restore healthy sinus drainage, reduce inflammation, and provide lasting relief with minimal recovery time.
Rhinoplasty
Our ENT Specialists also integrate functional sinus and nasal treatments with cosmetic nasal care to improve both appearance and breathing. Our in-office rhinoplasty procedure performed under IV sedation reshapes the nasal bones and nasal tip through a small incision, enhancing appearance while preserving optimal breathing. The procedure typically lasts about an hour with minimal downtime, no packing, and quick recovery.
Schedule a Consultation
If recurring sinus infections, chronic sinusitis, nasal congestion, sinus pressure, or other chronic symptoms are affecting your quality of life, the specialists at Sinus & Snoring Specialists are here to help. If you would like to learn more about the sinus and nasal treatments offered at Sinus & Snoring Specialists, call (512) 601-0303 to schedule a consultation at our office in Austin, TX and learn more about which treatment options can help you breathe easier, reduce recurring sinus infections, and restore healthy sinus functions.
Common Sinus and Nasal Treatment FAQs
What causes many sinus infections?
Sinusitis may be caused by viruses, bacteria, or fungal organisms.
How do I know if my sinus infection is bacterial?
Bacterial sinusitis symptoms typically last longer than 5 days.
What’s chronic sinusitis?
It’s sinusitis that lasts 12 weeks or more.
Is there a more serious type of sinusitis?
Bacterial and fungal sinusitis can result in significant health issues depending on the severity and the treatments offered.
What can I do at home to relieve congestion?
Elevating your head while sleeping reduces congestion, and using a neti pot or steam inhalation, such as a hot shower, helps loosen thick mucus and relieve sinus and facial pressure.
How can I ease facial pain or sinus pressure?
Warm compresses can alleviate discomfort and pressure. Aleve and oral decongestants may help as well.
Does nasal irrigation actually help?
Yes, nasal saline irrigation flushes out mucus and irritants and helps clear drainage to reduce congestion.
Does drinking more water help?
Yes, aggressive hydration promotes natural drainage of mucus.
What can I take for severe headache pain or fever from sinus infections?
Pain relievers like acetaminophen and ibuprofen can help manage sinus headaches and fever. Note that painkillers like ibuprofen relieve pain but don’t speed up recovery, and you may require other options to treat sinus infections.
Are decongestant nasal sprays safe to use?
Over-the-counter decongestant nose sprays like Afrin or Sinex should never be used despite their instructions that they are safe when used for three days.
What do steroid/corticosteroid nasal sprays do?
Nasal corticosteroids (steroid nasal sprays) reduce swelling and inflammation in the sinuses and nasal passages and can also help prevent sinus infections.
Do antihistamines help with sinus infections?
They can help if your symptoms are triggered by allergies.
When are antibiotics prescribed for sinusitis?
Antibiotics are usually not prescribed unless symptoms last more than 5 days. They’re effective for bacterial sinusitis specifically.