Why smoking damages your sinuses

It’s common knowledge that smoking is harmful to your lungs and throat, but few people realize it can also damage your sinuses.

Just like in the lungs, the nose and sinuses are lined with cilia, or tiny hair-like structures. Cilia protect the nose, sinuses and lungs from airborne particulate matter, bacteria and mucus. Smoking causes the cilia to stop working properly, increasing the smoker’s risk of developing infections in the lungs and sinuses.

A healthy individual normally produces approximately 1-2 quarts of mucus per day. This mucus travels to the back of the throat and you swallow it. However, if your cilia become damaged from smoking, the mucus will get backed up in the sinuses and the bacteria begin to multiply, leading to a sinus infection.

Furthermore, the tobacco smoke irritates the upper airways. When your nose and sinuses are irritated, they produce more mucus, allowing more bacteria to grow. This usually results in a cold, allergies or chronic sinusitis.

If you are a smoker suffering from sinus problems, you should really consider quitting in order to avoid chronic sinusitis, or worse, nose and sinus cancers.

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