Nasal Saline Research Review– Spray vs Irrigate
This article is a review of a recent research article that looked at whether it made any difference in spraying the nose versus irrigating the nose with a nasal saline solution. The condition that was being studied was chronic sinusitis.
Chronic sinusitis is a condition where a low grade infection is going on in the sinuses. The symptoms can be pretty severe or they can be so mild that the person just thinks they have allergies. The infection may go on for weeks or months or even years.
The reason that saline irrigation is even being studied is that the sinus infection really can’t get better if the sinus openings can’t be cleared of the stuff that is blocking them. This “stuff” might be secretions and often are very thick and hard for the body to move. The presumption is that these secretions can more easily be moved if the area is irrigated virorously.
The researchers were interested in understanding not only does it help to use a nasal saline solution to irrigate out the nose and therefore to possibly remove some of the blockage of the sinus, but they also wanted to know whether the volume of solution made a difference. In fact, did it make a difference whether the nasal saline solution was irrigated liberally or just sprayed up into the nose?
The research supported two different conclusions. First of all it is helpful to treat the symptoms of a chronic sinus infection with nasal saline solution irrigation. This helped with symptoms and treatment. But they also found that the nasal saline solution when used to irrigate was more effective than when used as a nasal spray.
So in summary when it comes to a chronic sinus infection there is a definite benefit to using a good nasal saline solution. And it makes a difference to use the solution as an irrigation tool rather than just spraying it up into the nose. So, based on this research if you have chronic symptoms you will definitely benefit from frequent nasal irrigation.