To Dr. Khalid Saud Al-Zamil, someone might ask why he feels pain in the forehead or cheeks when the plane takes off or landing? Or why when a person suffers a cold, he feels a headache during take-off and landing, and other pains may occur while flying in the face or in different areas of the body, but our research in this article is about the reasons that lead to the following pain that may be caused by the sinuses that come in the second order after ear pain during Flying and most of it takes place during landing.
First of all I would like to mention some basic information about the sinuses in terms of number and physiological function.
The paranasal sinuses (PARANASAL SINUSES) are air-filled cavities inside the human skull that are lined from the inside with mucous membranes similar to those inside the nose. As for their number, they are eight pockets, and they are two nasal pockets located on both sides of the eyes and are called the ethmoid sinuses (ETHMOID SINUSES). Inside the brain, they are called sphenoid sinuses (SPHENOID SINUSES).
The functions of the sinuses are
The sound improves and gives it more resonance.
Make the skull lighter.
Shock absorption received by the head or the skull.
It helps in moisturizing the air entering the nose because the mucous membranes lining the nose secrete the mucus, which helps in clearing the sinuses, and these openings are ventilated to the sinuses and equalize the pressure inside the sinuses with the external pressure.
Helps regulate pressure inside the nose.
The nose helps in the smelling process by making the olfactory area larger.
Under normal conditions for a person, the air inside the sinuses expands when rising in the air, so the pressure inside the sinuses becomes greater than the external pressure, so the air comes out of the sinuses through the openings that connect the nose to the sinuses, but when it falls, the opposite happens where the air shrinks and the pressure inside the sinuses becomes less pressure. Air enters the pockets through the same openings.
In the case of a cold or allergic rhinitis, the mucous membranes become congested and swollen, and this leads to narrowing or closing the opening that connects the sinuses to the nose, which leads to the so-called BAROSINUSITIS, in which the patient feels pain in the face, forehead, in the teeth, or at the top of the head, depending on the pocket The affected nasal sinuses, as for the intensity of the pain, varies from slight to severe, depending on the effect of the nasal sinus, which depends on the severity of the narrowing of these openings, and therefore the process of passing air to and from the sinuses is very difficult and when taking off when the air expands and does not find an exit outlet, it causes pressure Severe pain on the walls of the affected nasal sinus, and then the patient feels severe pain. As for when the air descends, the air shrinks and the external pressure (i.e. outside the nasal sinus) becomes much greater than the pressure inside the nasal sinus, and thus the patient suffers from excruciating pain in the face and teeth and may be accompanied by a severe headache, and the degree of pain and headache (as mentioned above) varies according to the narrowing of the opening and thus according to The degree of pressure equilibrium between the affected nasal sinus and air pressure, and it may increase the severity of the problem if there is a curvature in the nasal septum or gelatinous polyps, and the patient may suffer from increased secretions from the nose, and they may be mixed with a little blood or they may develop epistaxis, and to overcome this problem We advise the patient with a cold or allergies to see a doctor to take the necessary precautions before traveling so that he does not suffer during the trip.
protection
To avoid the occurrence of such pain for people who suffer from a cold or allergies, we recommend the following:
Use a decongestant to put three s in the nose (in each nostril) half an hour before taking off.
Use antihistamine pills an hour before taking off, to prevent congestion that occurs as a result of the pressure difference.
As for treatment methods, we advise the patient to do the following
Pain-relieving pills to get rid of pain and headache associated with sinusitis.
Anti-allergic sprays are used when a traveler experiences symptoms of an allergy.
There are some patients who must see a doctor to take instructions from him before using any medicine, such as patients who suffer from irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, heart disease or thyroid disease.
A pregnant woman should visit a doctor before using any medicine.
But if the patient suffers from polyps or nasal obstruction as a result of other reasons such as a curvature of the nasal septum, then surgical intervention has become obligatory to remove the polyps with modification of the nasal septum in order to prepare good ventilation for the nose and sinuses.
You may use antibiotics to avoid bacterial infections that may occur as a result of complications of the problem.
If the pain, headache and feeling of pressure persists for more than twenty-four hours without any progress in the patient’s condition, then in this case, surgical intervention is necessary to make an opening in the nasal sinus to remove the fluid trapped in the nasal sinus and equalize the pressure between the paranasal sinuses Barometric pressure and the patient will feel completely comfortable after The process is straightforward.
