Thirty-seven million people have sinus disease. This is despite trained sinus specialists and excellent medications. So, it is time to get down to business to fix this problem. Fortunately, doctors at the University of Pennsylvania have found a solution. It’s baby shampoo.
This is the one that announces “No Tears”. These doctors were looking for a way to dislodge biofilm from the sinuses. They looked at the baby shampoo. First, they thought that if it was safe for the eyes, surely it would be safe for the nose. They then tested the saline shampoo and found that at a certain concentration it did not disturb the normal movement of the nasal cilia. Then they found that a one percent solution was safe for the nose and its cilia.
Baby shampoo is a type of “detergent” that breaks down the walls that bacteria put up called biofilms. In the biofilm, certain bacteria gather together and build enclosures around themselves. Think of this like a cellophane wrapper. With biofilm, bacteria are protected from your body’s defending white blood cells. This wall also defends bacteria from antibiotics. The shell is sticky, making it difficult to remove. Just as baby shampoo lifts the sticky stuff off the scalp, it does the biofilm on the nose.
In your nose, you have a system by which millions of tiny hairs called nasal cilia move a layer of mucus out of your nose. Normally, inhaled dust particles and bacteria are trapped in this blanket so they cannot reach the lungs. Once they’re trapped, the movement of the cilia acts like oars, moving mucus from the nose down the throat to the stomach, where stomach acid flushes these invaders out. People who have chronic sinusitis do not have cilia that move fast enough to move the blanket. Instead of pulsing at the normal 14 pulses per second, they move too slowly. In such cases, the bacteria stays in place and multiplies and then you end up with a sinus infection.
To properly remove bacteria from the nose and sinuses, you need:
A. normal moving nasal cilia
b. mucus that is liquid enough to flow
against a clear passage for mucus to travel to the throat.
The cilia can move too slowly for many reasons. Smog and diesel fumes slow down the cilia. Solvents and certain industrial vapors slow down the cilia. Certain bacteria are experts in producing toxins that annul the action of the cilia. Some patients have a condition called Empty Nose Syndrome. Here, too much nasal tissue called the turbinates has been removed, so the number of cilia is too few to carry mucus out of the nose. The laser can also damage the cilia.
Some patients have PONSIS (Postoperative Nasal/Sinus Infection Syndrome). After nasal/sinus surgery, the nasal cilia are dazed and do not resume normal cilia movement for a while. During the time that the cilia are not moving well, an infection can occur. A common cause of poor cilia function is reinfection of the nose and sinuses from irrigating with contaminated pots and bottles. Because these devices reflux, contamination can be a cause of reinfection.
The sooner the cilia return to normal speed, the better. Cilia movement is best improved by pulsatile nasal saline irrigation. Here, a nasal tip attached to the pulsating fountain is placed in one nostril, and as the pulsating saline stream flows along the nose, the cilia move back and forth, like a wave action, and then they get into rhythm with that action. The idea is to use the correct rate of speed, in “harmony” to the cilia. It is like when soldiers march in step over a wooden bridge. At a certain pace of walking, the bridge will vibrate and shake.
Mucus can become thick, and when thick, that fluid is too heavy for the cilia to move, even with a normal pulsing rhythm. In the cystic fibrosis condition, the mucus becomes too thick and therefore there are frequent infections.
If you have had a nasal injury, you may have an anatomical blockage to the flow of mucus. For example, a deviated septum can block good drainage.
By adding baby shampoo to a saline solution and using pulsatile irrigation, we obtain these advantages.
A. The “detergent” action lifts and removes biofilm.
b. The “washing” action removes thick mucus to allow the cilia to move the layer of mucus.
vs. At the correct pulsing frequency, this pulsing action “harmons” the cilia to return them to normal speed.
d. In many cases of chronic sinus disease, the normal opening of the sinuses can become blocked due to a buildup of thick mucus. Actually, once the sinus is unblocked, that allows infected material to flow out of the sinus cavity and clean air to enter. The combination of shampoo and pulsation is best here for clearing sinus blockage.
my. You want the saline solution to fill the sinus cavity to displace the infected contents. The combination of regular flow, detergent action, and pulsating action works to fill the sinus cavities and displace infected contents.
An important factor for healing is the actual removal of bacteria, reducing the bacterial count either in biofilm or otherwise. Once the number of bacteria is reduced, you have a better chance of the body’s natural healing elements eliminating any bacteria that may be left behind. This avoids overuse of antibiotics that can cause stomach upset. When a person is cured naturally, his body is better prepared for other infections.
The exact concentration of baby shampoo must be strictly adhered to. The pulsatile irrigator provides a special 500 ml container that is clearly marked. Simply add a teaspoon of salt or enriched salt and fill the container to the 500ml mark. Now add a teaspoon of baby shampoo. That makes a 1% solution. This is the concentration that was tested and found to work for biofilm and not damage nasal cilia. I have my patients irrigate the full 500 ml. Simply insert the nasal adapter attached to the pulsatile irrigation device into the right nostril, lean toward the sink to view the drain. Turn on the device. The solution enters the right nasal chamber, bathes the right side, and then exits through the left nose into the sink. Change sides approximately every 30 seconds. Insert the nasal tip into the left nostril, lean well into the sink, and the solution will flow out of the right nostril.
Pulsatile shampoo irrigation is continued daily, usually twice daily, until symptoms resolve, indicating that the cilia are working again. There is no advantage to continuing to water then; once the cilia are normal, they can defend the body without outside help.
Adding baby shampoo is fine to get rid of a sinus infection. For other uses of pulsatile irrigation, it is not advantageous to add baby shampoo. For example, in allergies, pulsatile irrigation is used to avoid medications. Irrigation removes the pollen that causes the allergy and the IgE from the nose that reacts to the pollen to cause the symptoms. If you are using this allergy douche, you do not need the shampoo. Similarly, if you are using pulsatile irrigation to prevent the common cold by killing the ICAM-1 by which the cold virus enters the body, there is no advantage to using the shampoo.
If you are using pulsatile irrigation to restore the sense of smell, it is better to add the shampoo because that will help the cilia to propel the olfactory particles to the olfactory organs in the nose. Pulsatile irrigation is also used in orthopedics to clean wounds, as it is 100 times more effective than simple lavage in removing biofilm. Now that so many bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics, this method of sinus treatment is a welcome method that anyone can use.
Caution: If you are using your pulsatile irrigator to deliver medications such as antibiotics directly into the sinuses (gentamicin, amphotericin B, Cipro, or others), do not add baby shampoo as it may affect the potency of the antibiotic.