Symptoms of Recurrent Acute and Chronic Sinusitis

The symptoms of recurrent acute and chronic sinusitis are generally as follows:

• The symptoms tend to be vague and generalized than acute sinusitis.
• The symptoms persist for a longer period than four weeks.
• When symptoms last longer than four weeks but less than three months, it is called subacute sinusitis. lasts three months or more.
• When symptoms last longer than three months, it is called chronic sinusitis.
• The symptoms appear throughout the year and even during non-allergy seasons.

Specifically symptoms may include:

• Nasal congestion and obstruction.
• Chronic cough (day and night).
• Bad breath.
• Postnasal drip requiring repeated throat clearing.
• Tenderness or pressure in the face may be present. Facial pain causing a dull and constant ache indicates the infection is in the frontal sinuses.

Symptoms specific to site

Site-Specific symptoms depend on the location of the infection:

• Frontal sinusitis causes pain across the lower forehead.
• Maxillary sinusitis causes pain over the cheeks and could extend to the teeth. The hard palate in the mouth sometimes becomes swollen.
• Ethmoid sinusitis causes pain behind the eyes. May sometimes cause redness and tenderness around the top of the nose.
• Sphenoid sinusitis generally does not occur by itself. Sphenoid sinusitis causes pain behind the eyes, across the forehead, or in the face.