What is FESS

Endoscopic Sinus Surgery and Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery are names given to people with chronic or severe sinus infections. In the past sinus operations were done through cuts from the outside, but endoscopic sinus surgery is done from inside the nose and avoids external cuts.

What happens before the Operation

The Specialist will examine your nose with a small telescope and arrange for a CT scan of your sinuses.

The Operation

Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS), may be done either under local anesthesia or general anesthesia. The operation generally takes approximately 1-2 hours. During that period of time,the Surgeon will do any one of a number of things including: straightening the septum (the bone and cartilage separating the two sides of your nose), removing tissue from inside the nose, making an opening into the sinus(es) on either side of the nose so that drainage can occur more effectively, and possibly remove some of the lining of the sinuses for biopsy if indicated.. The number of sinuses which need to be opened up depends on the nature of your problem.