I am a 27 yoa female, and have never had any health problems until this last year, I noticed a lump on my cheek & at 1st I thought it had to do w/my wisdom teeth cause they were causing me a problem, I had them removed and was advised the swelling in my cheek was my sinuses, my Dr took x-rays & said it was a severe infection, Had me on a bunch of meds and it went down some, but he said it would never go back down due to how severe the infection was...well that was a year ago and i keep having the same problem happen..my sinuses would swell on my cheek and I'd get the head and earaches and the drip in my throat..this last visit to the Dr-he says I have 2 small cysts in that area...he wants to remove them by making an incision on the outside of my cheek, which he said will result in 2 stitches..I have never had any kind of surgery & I'm a little scared...Is this normal? I never heard of someone w/sinuses having lumps and stuff..Will I have a scar on my face from this? Sorry this was so long but any help would be very appreciated
Follow Ups:
Re: Cysts/sinuses (LOOK FOR CAUSES!)
Posted by Walt Stoll on February 22, 1999 at 09:53:36:
In Reply to: Cysts/sinuses posted by Tammy on February 21, 1999 at 07:39:17:
Hi, Tammy.
For swellings to occur that you can see, the "sinusitis" would have had to be incredibly serious and have invaded the bone to the point that osteomyelitis has occurred. If THIS is the scenario, I would be terrified about any surgical procedure since it would most likely spread the bone infection (osteomyelitis) to the rest of your facial bones. This would eventually cause severe deformity.
I would at least get several opinions about this from Orthopedists, ENT specialists, Head & Neck surgeons and the like.
In the meantime, you need to break the habit of allowing your teeth to touch when you are relaxed. This precurser of TMJ is the most commonly missed cause of chronic sinusitis. This has been discussed many times on this BB & likely is listed in the archives.
Walt