The doctor warned about the consequences of a prolonged runny nose in a child

Rhinitis is the most common disease in children, which often develops into a prolonged form. In addition, if you run a runny nose, you may need a surgeon's intervention. Olga Popova, a pediatric otorhinolaryngologist at the SM Clinic for Children, told Izvestia on April 29 about the dangers of this condition and in which cases surgical treatment is required.

The doctor explained that after 8-12 days from the onset of the disease, the acute runny nose usually stops. However, with decreased immunity, high virulence of the virus or excessive bacterial growth and lack of adequate therapy, rhinitis may be prolonged.

"In medical practice, rhinitis that lasts for more than 14 days to three to four weeks is called prolonged. It most often develops in the cold or wet season," Popova said.

Prolonged rhinitis can be either an independent disease or a concomitant symptom of other specific ones: influenza, diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough or nonspecific processes.

According to the expert, sometimes parents consider a runny nose to be not a serious symptom and expect it to disappear on its own over time. However, prolonged runny nose in children leads primarily to a decrease in their quality of life: sleep disorders, attention, weakness, moodiness, fatigue and headache appear due to lack of oxygen supply from the inhaled air.

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However, the main danger lies in the fact that prolonged rhinitis without treatment can lead to complications such as otitis media — eustacheitis, acute otitis media or exudative, rhinosinusitis — sinusitis, ethmoiditis, sphenoiditis, frontitis, chronic adenoiditis, severe hypertrophy of lymphoid tissue (pharyngeal and / or palatine tonsils), inflammation of the lacrimal tract, laryngopharyngitis, tracheobronchitis.

As the pediatric otorhinolaryngologist emphasized, in the absence of proper and timely therapy, the course of the common cold becomes chronic. There is a risk of the above complications. As a result, surgical treatment may be required in some cases.

Speaking about the cases in which conservative treatment can be dispensed with, the doctor noted that the most important thing is the absence of recurrent complications of a prolonged rhinitis from the ENT organs (otitis media, rhinosinusitis, chronic adenoiditis, severe hypertrophy of the adenoids and palatine tonsils, sleep apnea).

"In this case, parents either seek timely medical help from an ENT doctor and/or pediatrician and begin adequate and correct symptomatic therapy, against which recovery occurs. Or they continue to carry out preventive measures at home (hardening, proper nutrition, exclusion of allergy / immunodeficiency factors)," the specialist noted.

An important place is given to vaccination, including against hemophilic and pneumococcal infections.

If we talk about indications for surgical treatment of a prolonged rhinitis, then, according to Popova, the indications are divided into relative and absolute.

Relative indications include: frequent inflammation of the nasopharynx (adenoiditis) and/or sinuses (rhinosinusitis) that does not respond to conservative treatment; dysfunction of the auditory tubes; recurrent respiratory tract infections when a causal relationship with the presence of adenoids is established; night snoring, etc.

Absolute indications include: nocturnal apnea (respiratory retention); prolonged recurrent exudative otitis media with persistent hearing loss (which does not resolve within three to six months); recurrent acute otitis media with frequent use of systemic antibiotics (four courses per year or three courses per six months).

"In 80% of cases, the cause is adenoid hypertrophy. Then the most appropriate operation is a video endoscopic adenotomy. In some cases, patients have a concomitant pathology — second- or third—degree palatine tonsillitis hypertrophy with recurrent tonsillitis, which requires removal of the adenoids and pruning of the palatine tonsils," the doctor concluded.

Earlier, on April 13, Natalia Matveeva, a therapist and a leading specialist at the Semeynaya clinic, told Izvestia about the main causes of cough, its types and effective treatment methods. According to the expert, coughing can be caused by an infection of the respiratory tract. The most common cause is viral or bacterial infections such as acute respiratory viral infections, influenza, bronchitis, pneumonia or whooping cough. In this case, there may also be other symptoms: fever, runny nose, weakness.