How are sinus infections treated?

How are sinus infections treated?

Richard Sheldon (Medical Advisor to the CA State Respiratory Care Board) gives expert video advice on: How can I prevent an upper respiratory infection?; What are the symptoms of a sinus infection? and more...

If they're viral, it's hard to treat them. You treat them with decongestants, bed rest and fluids, like you would with other upper respiratory tract infections caused by viruses. But frequently, a viral infection to a sinus will open it up and sort of damage it a bit, and then bacterial infections will come in as a secondary invader. I explain it to patients sometimes as like a stealth bug that will fly in underneath the radar and just nail you. In that situation, if it's bacterial, then it has to be treated with antibiotics. The antibiotics sometimes that we use, are better for sinusitis if they're certain types of antibiotics rather than just the overarching broad spectrum antibiotics.