South Indy News

• Sinusitis has been shown to cause erectile dysfunction.

• Other unexpected negative health side effects can also be caused by sinusitis.

• Sinusitis treatment can be relatively quick, and the recovery time is minimal.

When a man has chronic sinusitis, he may not be the only one suffering. Studies have found a high association -- almost double -- of men who suffer from both chronic sinusitis and erectile dysfunction, compared to those who don't suffer from sinusitis.

What that means is that chronic sinusitis "can affect sexual function as well," Dr. Anthony Sanders of Indianapolis Sinus Center told South Indy News.

Erectile dysfunction, defined by the National Institutes of Health as "the inability to attain and maintain an erection of sufficient quality to permit satisfactory sexual intercourse," is a problem for about 5% of men in the U.S., according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). A study of more than 1 million people from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database found a strong association between chronic sinusitis and increased risk of erectile dysfunction. The study found that treating sinusitis with functional endoscopic sinus surgery significantly decreased erectile dysfunction in those patients.

Yahoo! Sports reported in early 2017 that men who have chronic sinusitis are up to 50% more likely to suffer from impotence than are men who don't have chronic sinusitis. The story cited a report from Kaohsiung University in Taiwan, which found that inflamed sinuses from sinusitis causes blood vessels in men's genitals to restrict blood flow.

Men with chronic sinusitis also are 41% more likely to suffer from depression, Physicians Weekly reported in 2019. It isn't just sexual dysfunction and depression, however. A 2017 NCBI study found that chronic sinusitis patients also suffer from poor sleep.

Fortunately, people with sinusitis have several surgical treatment options, including endoscopy and balloon sinuplasty, according to WebMD.

A common procedure is called endoscopy, in which doctors insert thin, flexible instruments called endoscopes into the nose. A small camera lens also is inserted that can provide attending physicians with images that reveal where sinuses are blocked and to guide other instruments to gently remove polyps, scar tissue and other blockages. There is no cutting involved, which makes recovery relatively fast and easy.

Endoscopy is typically performed with a local anesthetic, making the surgical area numb and allowing the patient to remain awake throughout the procedure.

A relatively new treatment is balloon sinuplasty, a good option for patients who don't require anything to be removed from the sinuses. During balloon sinuplasty, a thin tube is inserted into the nose with a small balloon attached to one end that is guided to the blocked area, where the balloon is inflated. The inflated balloon helps clear the passageway, allowing sinuses to drain properly and alleviate congestion.

To learn more about sinusitis or balloon sinuplasty, take this Sinus Self-Assessment Quiz.