New Webpage on Large Adenoids: Symptoms and Treatment

A new webpage has been created on problems associated with large adenoids and how it can be treated.

Large adenoids cause all sorts of symptoms that may be confused for other etiologies including:

• Nasal obstruction
• Nasal congestion
• Nasal sounding speech
• Runny nose (rhinitis)
• Snotty nose
• Colored drainage
• Allergy like symptoms
• Ear pain, clogging, stuffiness
• Cough
• Post-nasal drainage

Correction of the large adenoids (medications or surgery) may eliminate all these symptoms!

Click here to read more about this as well as to watch videos on this subject.

NYT: Does Snotty Colored Discharge Require Antibiotics? No!!!

The New York Times published a story on Oct 6, 2009 entitled "The Claim: With a Runny Nose, Green Calls for an Antibiotic." It actually is a pretty good article though I'm not sure how much impact this will have in clinical practice.

The story reports that green discharge from the nose is NOT indicative of a bacterial sinus infection and as such, this symptom should not be the sole reason why antibiotics should be prescribed.

It does reference a research paper that backs this claim up. There are others.

In any case, the last sentence of the story is worth reiterating: "THE BOTTOM LINE: The color of nasal discharge should not dictate the medicine."

Not sure how accepting patients will be of this factoid given how ingrained colored discharge has been equated with sinus infection.

I personally have encouraged saline nasal flushes starting from as early as 5 years old as the main treatment for this issue which some patients have been more accepting than others.

The Perfect Nasal Bulb Suction and Aspirator for Infants and Small Children

Regardless of the cause of a snotty nose in a young child, it is recommended that parents use a saline spray or saline bullets to the nose followed by nasal bulb suctioning as often as 3 times a day. The problem is finding the perfect nasal suctioning device with the following characteristics:

• Make sure the nasal tip is rounded to prevent nasal trauma no matter how firmly you push against your child's nose
• Make sure you can see into the bulb to ensure adequate suctioning as well as to know when it needs to be cleaned
• Make sure it can be taken apart for cleaning

There are TWO devices that we found meet these criteria illustrated below. We also sell them in our office!


This nasal bulb suction is a regular nasal bulb suction. Note the rounded tip, clear window to see into the bulb, as well as the fact that it can be taken apart (the blue bulb can be separated from the clear plastic).

Nasal bulbs can be purchased from Amazon.com. This particular nasal bulb suction is sold in our office for $12.




This device uses suction produced by the parent in order to remove nasal drainage. Just like the nasal bulb, it has a rounded tip, clear plastic, and can be taken apart for cleaning.

This Nosefrida Nasal Aspirator can be purchased from Amazon.com. Sold in our office for $15.