How to Remove Nasal Polyps Yourself and When to choose Medication and Surgery Options

 

Overview

Nasal polyps refer to small painless lumps of tissues that grow in your nose. Polyps may gradually develop and cause problems with congestion, headache, recurring sinusitis, drainage, and smell. Usually, they are non-cancerous (benign) and common in adults.  Symptoms develop when its size increases same as a grape.

Treatment by medication for nasal polyps may eliminate them because it facilitates preventing them from growing larger. However, surgery is the only manner that removes its reality.

How are nasal polyps removed without surgery?

If you don’t experience the symptoms of nasal polyps, you don’t require to treat yourself since that could cause injury and possible infections. If you feel discomfort, the only thing you can do at home is to make yourself more content by shrinking polyps. If at-home remedies don’t work the second option will be injectable medications and surgical removal.  

Ask your health expert about which option is appropriate for

Nasal polyps symptoms

Nasal polyps are connected with inflammation and irritation of the lining of your nasal passage and sinuses that lasts more than twelve weeks if you have chronic sinusitis. However, it’s possible that you have chronic sinusitis without nasal polyps.

Nasal polyps are soft and cause a mild sensation, you might be unaware you have them if they are smaller.

If you have chronic sinusitis with nasal polyps, you may experience symptoms that include

• A runny nose
• Persistent stuffiness
• Postnasal drip
• Decreased or absent sense of smell
• Loss of sense of taste
• Facial pain or headache
• Snoring
• A sense of pressure over your face and forehead
• Frequent nosebleeds
• Pain in your upper teeth

 

Nasal polyps treatment

Home remedies to reduce symptoms of nasal polyps   

Mostly Nasal polyps are caused by inflammation inside the nose. Managing inflammation may help nasal polyps and keep them from getting severe. When your nasal passage is not irritated and swollen, you also feel better. Here are some home remedies to follow in order to keep your nasal passage from flashing up:

 Read also How to remove nasal polyps yourself

1. Rinse your nasal passages

For this purpose, you can use a bulb syringe or neti pot to irritate your nasal passages with a salt and water solution. This solution will help you to moisten your nasal passages and remove allergens and mucus (that may cause inflammation and irritation) by pushing the saline rinse through your nose. You can buy saline and neti pot from any pharmacy or online.

2. Use a potable humidifier

You can calm your irritated nose by using a humidifier that moist air from a humidifier. For best results, use humidity levels between the ranges of 30% to 50%. Only use distilled water and clean the humidifier regularly.

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3. Try to avoid nasal irritants

Irritants such as dust, chemical fumes, and tobacco smoke may aggravate nasal polyps, so try to avoid them as much as possible. If you are struggling to refrain from smoking, your health expert will help you better.   

 

4. Treat other respiratory conditions

People are more likely to have nasal polyps, asthma, or allergies. You can reduce the inflammation that may cause nasal polyps or make them severe by managing symptoms from allergies. Immediately set an appointment with your health expert. 

Read also How to clear phlegm (mucus) after COVID-19 

5. Take steps to protect yourself from illness

Your nasal passage can be inflamed by viral or bacterial infections therefore, it is really important to eat healthy meals, often wash your hands, and get your flu and COVID-19 vaccines or booster shots. 

Medications to shrink nasal polyps

Sometimes home remedies don’t work against nasal polyps in this situation, immediately make an appointment with your health expert. If there is a little bit serious they will refer you to ENT (an ear, nose, and throat) health expert for other treatments such as injectable medications.

Several medications are available that can help you completely eliminate nasal polyps or at least reduce the polyp size. Most medicines prescribed by health experts include:

1. Nasal spray

Generally, nasal sprays are safe. Usually, corticosteroid spray is used to reduce irritation and swelling in the nasal passage from allergies. But, these sprays can also help shrink or completely eradicate polyps. Popular over-the-counter options comprise Rinocort, Nasacort, and Flonase.

2. Biologics for nasal polyps

Your health expert may prescribe you an injection called dupilumab if you have chronic sinusitis with nasal polyps to shrink the polyps and decline congestion. This medication modifies how your immune system counters inflammation.     

3. Oral corticosteroid

May your health expert prescribe you an oral corticosteroid for nasal polyps, if a nasal spray doesn’t work? But these medications will only be used for a short period of time because they can have some side effects.

4. Injectable corticosteroids

Injectable corticosteroids only use when nasal polyps get severe, to reduce inflammation.

5. Surgery to eemove nasal polyps

Polypectomy or sinus surgery will be the only option when medications don’t work against nasal polyps. Generally, this procedure takes a few hours, depending on your need or preference local or general anesthesia can be used. 

Most of the time patients can go home on the same day of surgery, but some patients have to stay an overnight. So you can plan it with ease without setting arrangements to stay in hospitals for a long time.

 

How nasal polyps are removed?

The nasal polyp removal procedure depends on the location and size of the polyp.

If nasal polyps are located deeper in the nasal cavity (this could be more difficult to remove) your health expert may suggest functional endoscopic surgery, this surgery is a moderately invasive procedure that doesn’t need any incision in the skin.  

If the nasal polyps are located at the front of your nose, probably your health expert will use a microdebrider. This is a surgical instrument that is inserted in the nostril to remove the polyps with small graspers. 

With using the camera, your health expert will try to find your nasal polyps and then use tiny instruments to remove them. He may also make alterations to the structure of your sinuses consequently you are less expected to get nasal polyps. 

During the surgical procedure, your health expert will use an endoscope which is a thin, flexible, and long tube having a camera on the end. This endoscope tube goes through your nostril and into nasal cavities.

What to expect after getting nasal Polyps removed?

Although nasal polyps surgery is considered a minor procedure, but it takes time to heal. Your ENT health expert will ask you for a check-up a few times in the week after the surgery to make sure that you are healing properly.

After then procedure, your health expert will give you definite care directives, but you can expect the following as you recover.

Your nose will be sore, and probably you will have blood and other fluids draining from it for up to seven days.  

You can be able to return to your normal work routine in a week or maybe less. Some patients are able to go back within a few days.

For a few days, you may feel like you have a bad cold for a couple of days. However, you will not be able to blow your nose for a minimum of a week. Blowing the nose can also affect the healing process. As an alternative, you will require to use saline sprays to loosen the dried mucus collecting inside your nose.      

You will need to avoid certain activities that could make your nose bleed, including long showers, strenuous exercise, steamy beverages, bending over, and hot baths. 

Your health expert will recommend a prescription or over-the-counter medication to help manage the pain. Only take prescribed medicines as some medicines may cause severity. For example, aspirin can delay the healing process, as it thinning the blood and keeps blood from clotting.

Smoking and drinking can also delay healing therefore, it’s better to avoid these habits.

How can I prevent nasal polyps from returning after surgery?

There is no guarantee your nose will remain growth-free forever, as sometimes nasal polyps come back. However, if you take steps to minimize inflammation in your nasal passage can reduce the chances of uncomfortable nasal polyps.

So what should you do to prevent nasal polyps return in the future, is continue to use saline rinses, humidifiers, and corticosteroid nasal sprays. These things also help to keep asthma and allergy symptoms under control, limit how much alcohol you drink, and quit smoking.

Nasal polyps treatment that’s on the nose

Home remedies play an important role to keep symptoms of nasal polyps under control. If these remedies don’t work, an immediate appointment with your ENT health expert is crucial.