How can you tell if you have fungal sinusitis?

Fungal sinusitis: Sinusitis involves inflammation & infection of the sinuses. Most often bacteria are the cause but occasionally mold & fungi can grow inside. This is most common in patients with allergies and those that have had multiple infections along with chronic sinus pressure and drainage. Sometimes a ct scan of the sinuses can help diagnose fungal sinusitis but often diagnosis is made during sinus surgery.

Tests needed: Fungal sinusitis can be allergic or invasive. Allergic fungal sinusitis is associated with one-sided nasal polyps, thick discolored nasal mucus, decrease sense of smell. The sinus ct scan can have specific findings suggestive of allergic fungal sinusitis, skin testing can identify the fungus and the ENT surgeon can perform sinus surgery and evaluate the sinus contents---looks like peanut butter!

Not easy: Almost all adults have fungal spores in their nasal passages. Therefore, simply culturing a fungus from the nose does not necessarily mean that is the cause of the inflammation in your sinuses. After operating on many hundreds of sinuses, our lab has demonstrated fungus to be present in sinus washings in less than 3%. Fungal sinusitis is a real entity and depends on your geographic location.