For most people, there are some preventive measures that can help stave off a sinus infection, or, if one occurs, to help relieve symptoms, says William Marshall, MD, an infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He recommends the same things "mothers recommend for a cold," like rest, drinking lots of fluids, breathing steam, and irrigating the sinuses with saline spray or a neti pot, a container used to rinse the sinuses with saline solution.
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Bacterial sinus infections typically last for about 14 days, but the use of antibiotics speeds up the recovery process by up to five days. Still, according to Dr. Bhattacharyya, about 70% of sinus infections resolve on their own, and many patients, like Lord, prefer to let them run their course.
"Antibiotics mainly help to speed up the healing process," Dr. Bhattacharyya says. "But before antibiotics were around, people weren’t dropping dead of sinus infections and they still aren’t."
If left untreated, however, sinusitis can cause permanent damage to the sinuses and, in very rare cases, can lead to meningitis, Dr. Marshall says. If patients miss work or other activities due to sinus infections, or if their symptoms recur frequently, they should see a doctor for evaluation.
