Understanding Your Sinuses
Your sinuses are empty chambers between the bones in your head. Filled with air, they resonate, or vibrate, aiding speech. Four pairs of sinuses connect to the nasal cavity through small openings. The sinuses produce mucus that drains through openings into your nose and into the back of your throat. The mucus draining from your sinuses helps keep your nose moist and free of dust and bacteria.
Free-Flowing Sinuses
In healthy sinuses, air circulates freely though the chambers. A thick layer of mucus drains from the sinuses into the nose. Tiny, hairlike cilia move the thin, watery mucus through your sinuses and middle meatus and into the back of your throat. Your sinuses drain freely when they're free of swelling and thickened mucus, when the middle meatus is clear and open, and when the cilia are healthy and working correctly.
Date Last Reviewed:
1/15/2007
Date Last Modified:
2/5/2004