Nasal Endoscopy

Male: Sometimes you go up with a little device and lie down looking around, when is that indicated?

Dr. Dolitsky: That is a nasal endoscope and that is a small flexible telescope that allows us to look further into the nose. When we look in with a standard light, like an otoscope light or even a headlight, you can see maybe a quarter of the way into the nose. The sinus is drained about a halfway into the nose. So the area where the sinus is drained is difficult to see with a standard headlight. So sometimes they can be purulent drainage coming out of the sinus cavity which will not be visible in the front or the anterior part of the nose. In that case, it is a good idea to look into the nasal passage all the way from one end to the other with one of these nasal telescopes. Plus, one of the common courses of a recurrent or refractory sinus infection is an adenoid infection. And the adenoids are actually situated behind the nose. The only way to see them visually is again with these telescopes. So when someone is having recurrent or chronic sinus problems or I can’t, I need some traditional help in making the diagnosis. I will take a look at the area where the sinus drains into the nose with a telescope and then look further back to see the status of the adenoids.


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