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 Smoker's
Rhinitis: Tobacco smoke contains hundreds of chemicals and
at least twenty of which have been implicated in cancer. Smoking
irritates the lining of the nose, increasing nasal secretions and swelling. The
nose becomes less able to cleanse itself and more susceptible to allergens.
Smoking and secondhand smoke is associated with significant nasal and
sinus disease and symptoms.
View Abstract
If
you smoke, all the treatments in this section are less likely to be effective.
GO TO:
www.tobaccofacts.info
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In my (Dr. Kevin Kavanagh's) experience,
if you smoke, decongestants, antihistamines and nasal steroids are of little
help. In my practice, I have not had a single allergic patient who smokes
improve with allergy shots. Some doctors will not even allergy test patients that
smoke, and for the most part I follow this practice.
 Unfortunately, most
patients have caused irreversible damage to the lining of their nose and quitting
smoking does not improve their symptoms. Many patients experience
a worsening of their symptoms since goblet cell (cells that secrete nasal
fluids)
hypertrophy
takes place which
increases nasal secretions. Because cillary function (micro hair
structures which clean the nose) is often permanently damaged, these
secretions are not cleared and the patient may experience worsening over many
months of his/her symptoms. The best treatment is to quit smoking
and use
hypertonic saline nasal irrigations in combination with the use of nasal steroids.
However, as with patients with chronic lung disease from smoking, patients with
smoker's rhinitis, seldom return to a completely normal state.
IF YOU
SMOKE..QUIT!!
Search PubMed for Smoking and Rhinitis
GO TO:
www.tobaccofacts.info
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