After sinus surgery or surgery on your sinuses or sinuses, always follow the instructions of your ENT doctor. After surgery on the sinuses and sinuses, you often receive a brochure with instructions for aftercare. One of those instructions involves rinsing your nose. For at least the first three weeks after surgery, it is important to rinse your nose 2 to 4 times a day with a nasal wash and saline solution. This keeps wounds and cavities clean and flushes away crusts.

Sinus surgery has a number of reasons. There are a number of hollow spaces in your head located above and to the side of the nose that are in direct connection with the nasal cavities. That's why these hollow spaces are called sinuses. You have two sinuses above the eyes, two maxillary sinuses behind the cheeks and several small cavities in the ethmoid bone between the nasal cavity and the eye socket. You also have the sphenoid cavity behind your nose. Your nose and sinuses are lined with mucous membrane. This is like skin, but on the inside. The mucous membrane produces moisture and works with your cilia to recognize and remove dirt. This mucous membrane can become inflamed from viruses, bacteria, allergens such as pollen and other causes. If the inflammation does not go away despite flushing your nose and taking medication, it is chronic inflammation (rhinosinusitis). A sinus surgery aims to remove inflamed tissue, open blocked passages and preserve enough healthy tissue so that your nose and sinuses can function normally again. The most commonly used surgical method is "functional endoscopic sinus surgery" (FESS - functional endoscopic sinus surgery). The ENT doctor inserts a thin tube with a light at the end (endoscope) into your nose to remove affected tissue and bone (ethmoidectomy). This method also allows you to open the middle nasal passage (maxillary antrostomy), correct the nasal septum (septoplasty) and remove excess tissue (turbinoplasty). Learn more about nasal surgery at neus.nu.

After sinus surgery for sinusitis or nasal polyps, wounds remain in your sinuses and sinuses. Crusts also form. "These crusts are a source of irritation to the mucosa and bacteria grow on them," says Dr. J. van der Borden, ENT physician at neus.nu and formerly employed at the BovenIJ Hospital. These breeding grounds for bacteria pose an infection risk, which is why you want to get them out of your nose. The same goes for secretions around wounds or stitches. Rinsing your nose and sinuses with a nasal rinse and saline is a good solution for this.