The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healing Your Sinuses

By Ralph B. Metson, M.D. with Steven Mardon
ISBN 0-07-144469-6


Let us cut to the chase—I highly recommend “The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healing Your Sinuses.” I picked this book because it had the magic word sinuses in the title. After I started to read, it became obvious that it had been written in understandable English and not technical jargon.

For instance, Dr. Ralph Metson uses simple language to describe the sinus structure. He illustrates the emptiness of the sinuses. The sinuses are not an organ like a heart or a kidney, but are more like caves covered in bone. Then, he explains how the sinuses can get clogged and filled with bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

The crowning cap to Dr. Metson’s writings is his advice on how to heal the sinuses. Although much of the information is for acute and chronic sinusitis, we can use this same information to keep our sinuses healthy.

One technique that Dr. Metson recommends is nasal irrigation. He explains that keeping the sinuses healthy also helps the body rid itself of bacteria and viruses that can cause colds and infections. He suggests rinsing the sinuses at least twice a day after brushing our teeth. The term he uses is “brush and flush.”

Using his advice on nasal irrigation, I was able to clear a sinus headache without using painkillers or decongestants.

Some of the topics in this book are “How Your Sinuses Work,” “Nonsurgical Treatments for Sinusitis,” “Surgery for Sinusitis,” and “Special Considerations.” In “Special Considerations,” Dr. Metson talks about Wegener’s Granulomatosis. It is a very short explanation, but it does bring awareness to the sinus issues associated with our disease.

I will definitely keep this book as a medical reference.