WHEN SINUSES ATTACK Reviewed by: KidsHealth Medical Experts
Uh-oh. You're sneezing, coughing, and you have a bright red nose. You figure it's just another cold, but this one sticks around way too long. Is it really a cold? Maybe not. It could be a problem with your sinuses. WHAT ARE SINUSES? The sinuses (say: SY-nih-siz) are air-filled spaces found in the bones of the head and face. There are four pairs of sinuses, or eight in all. They're on either side of the nose in your cheeks, behind and between the eyes, in the forehead, and at the back of the nasal cavity. Like the inside of the nose, the sinuses are lined with a moist, thin layer of tissue called a mucous membrane (say: MYOO-kus MEMbrayne). These help moisten the air you breathe it in. They also makes mucus, that sticky stuff in your nose you might call snot. The mucus traps dust and germs that are in the air. On the surface of the cells of the mucous membrane are microscopic hairs called cilia (say: SIL-ee-uh). The cilia beat back and forth in waves to clear mucus from the sinuses through a narrow opening in the nose and then move the mucus toward the back of the nose to be swallowed. Gross, huh? If you have a cold or allergies, the membrane gets irritated and swollen and makes even more mucus. WHEN GOOD SINUSES GO BAD What about that cold that won't go away?
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Boomerang
A cold virus can: • Damage the delicate cilia so that mucus is not swept away • Make the mucous lining of the nose swollen, which narrows and blocks the small opening from the sinuses into the nose • Lead to more mucus, which is often thicker and stickier, making it harder to flow out of the sinuses
