After any surgery, you have to make changes to your lifestyle to accommodate the effects of the procedure. For endoscopic sinus surgery, many of those precautions can be unexpected and hinder your normal routine. Some of the things you’ll have to avoid are self evident, such as exercise, or avoiding medicines that can prevent blood from clotting. However, many others will force you to modify your work routine to accommodate them.
What to Avoid During Recovery From Endoscopic Sinus Surgery
The amount of capillaries and mucous membranes in the sinuses make them particularly sensitive. This means that recovering from surgery requires special care to make sure they heal properly. Here’s what you should do during recovery from sinus surgery:
1. Avoid Heavy Lifting
During the first week after surgery, you’ll need to avoid bending over or lifting anything over 10 pounds. For most parents this means being unable to pick up your young children, and arranging for someone to babysit. Additionally, industrial workers will have difficulty returning to their normal work routine even after this first week.
You may have to reduce your workload or take on different tasks to continue working. If you have an exercise regimen, including biking or running, you will have to hold off entirely. You can slowly ease back into your routine over the course of three weeks.
2. Minimize Exposure to Irritants
If you work with chemicals or particulates, like sand or sawdust, you’ll have to avoid them for four weeks. Wear protective equipment to make sure you don’t inhale them at all. Any sort of irritant managing to work its way into your respiratory tract will reinflame your sinuses. This works against any tissue that has managed to heal thus far.
3. Avoid Hot Baths
Avoid hot showers or baths until your bleeding is controlled and assessed by your doctor. The hot water will cause your blood vessels to dilate, which can cause freshly clotted vessels to tear once again and bleed. You will have to put off swimming entirely for six weeks to avoid any contaminants in the water from infecting your sinuses.
4.Do Not Sleep Flat
This will prevent the blood and mucus from properly draining out of your sinus cavities. You should sleep elevated by a few pillows or in a reclining chair so any debris or infected tissue can drain. You won’t be able to blow your nose for two weeks, so mucus and blood can build up very quickly otherwise.
5.Avoid Traveling
Do not travel for the first week, and don’t travel by air for the first two. Healing relies on support from air pressure to properly transport proteins. This is impeded by the changes in air pressure during air travel. Without support, the body has to rely on inflammation to heal properly.
A Simpler Alternative
Endoscopic sinus surgery may seem entirely out of the question if you can’t easily take time out from work. Fortunately, there is a minimally invasive procedure that solves many of the same problems with a much shorter recovery. Balloon sinuplasty works similarly to endoscopic surgery, using a catheter inserted into the sinus cavities through the nose. However, instead of cutting tissue, balloon sinuplasty uses a small surgical balloon that dilates sinus openings.
Mucus is able to drain more easily with the reshaping of sinus openings. A large number of people with chronic sinusitis symptoms would be eligible for this procedure. Speak with your doctor to see if your symptoms can be treated with balloon sinuplasty.
