Headache and Facial Pain in Rhinologic Field : A 1 Year Experience

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Sinus headaches are frequently mistaken as primary headaches, and thus, emphasizes the necessity of a specific diagnosis of symptoms to treat patients properly. Therefore, the authors investigated the specific clinical symptoms of patients who visited a rhinologist complaining of headaches or facial pain. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The present study was performed with retrospective clinical analysis of 990 patients who visited rhinologists from August 2010 to August 2011. The presence and characteristics of headaches or facial pain, physical findings, and the results of treatment were investigated. RESULTS: One hundred sixteen out of 990 rhinologic patients complained of headaches or facial pain. Nineteen out of 69 patients with acute rhinosinusitis (27.5%), 28 out of 317 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (8.8%), 7 out of 11 patients with fungal sinusitis (63.6%), and 10 out of 222 patients with allergic rhinitis (4.5%) had headaches or facial pain. The symptoms of the majority of cases were ameliorated after an appropriate rhinologic treatment. CONCLUSION: The differential diagnosis of diseases causing headache or facial pain in the rhinologic field should be strongly considered in order to cure patients with headaches more accurately, minimizing erroneous prescriptions.