Houston ENT and Allergy Blog

  Earwax, also known as cerumen,  plays an important role in your body. It helps eliminate dirt, debris, hair and dead skin cells from your ear canal. Earwax keeps your ear canal from becoming itchy and uncomfortable and it lowers your risk of infection. It also helps decrease the irritation of water when it gets into your ear canal. While earwax does serve some useful purposes, having too much of it can result in buildup and ear canal blockage. Your body can overproduce earwax leading to this blockage, but also, you can cause the blockage as well by cleaning your ears out with a cotton swab or other item that pushes the earwax further into your ear canal. Watch the video by Sanjeev Shah, MD in this post to learn more.… Read More

  Over 24 million individuals in the U.S. struggle with chronic rhinitis. If you suffer from a persistent stuffy or runny nose, there's a good chance you could have chronic rhinitis. Treatments like pills, drops and sprays might not provide you with the desired relief you're looking for.  Fortunately, you have another option now in ClariFix ®. At Houston ENT & Allergy Services, our physicians can help you get relief from your constant runny nose  and breathe better — once and for all. We are dedicated to providing the most technically-advanced treatment options. ClariFix® is the breakthrough, innovative cooling technology to treat frequent stuffy or runny nose, a condition called chronic rhinitis.  Our ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctors perform this procedure right in our clinic offices. It has little downtime and is extremely effective.… Read More

View Video Despite all your efforts like blowing your nose or using nostril spray, your nose won't stop dripping and it's becoming red, raw and more tender by the minute. What can you do? The first thing you can do is to learn more about what a runny (dripping) nose is, what some of the common causes of it are and it's symptoms. Then, you can sit down with one of our Houston ENT doctors and discuss treatment options.… Read More

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  Whether you’re purchasing hearing aids in Houston or need assistance managing certain ear, nose, and throat procedures with high deductibles, CareCredit and Houston ENT and Allergy go hand-in-hand.… Read More

  You're struggling with sinus problems and your doctor examined you and gave you a diagnosis of sinusitis, which you’ve learned is sinus lining inflammation. The doctor prescribes you medication after your symptoms weren't responding to over-the-counter medications. However, even the prescription medication isn't providing you with enough relief and you're still experiencing congestion all day and throughout the night to the point that you’re now suffering from chronic sinusitis.… Read More

If you've been diagnosed with otosclerosis, your doctor may recommend stapedectomy surgery. Otosclerosis is a self-limited bone growth in one or both ears that can cause hearing difficulty. As the bone growth becomes larger it can lead to progressive hearing loss. To avoid this, you may want to consider having the stapedectomy procedure done.… Read More

  Branchial cleft cysts develop during the developmental-embryonic stage when there is abnormal or improper neck or collarbone tissue development.  Branchial cleft cysts can be noticeable and look like an opening on one or both sides of the neck. The openings drain fluid, leading to the formation of a pocket or cyst. Sometimes there's infection in the pocket or cyst which oozes out of the skin's opening. Most of the time, branchial cleft cysts aren't harmful, and they usually don’t provide the ENT doctor a diagnostic challenge since they tend to have a consistent clinical presentation and physical locations.… Read More

  People who have a branchial cleft cyst are born with the condition, which begins in early in the embryonic stage. Though it is present at birth, it may not be recognized until adolescence among those who have this condition.… Read More

  Week four in May (May 20-26) of Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM) focused on increasing awareness of older Americans and falls. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 25 percent of people, aged 65 or older, fall each year. By the age of 80, that number increases to 50 percent. Unfortunately, only half those who fall inform their physicians. What you may not know, though, is that falling once in a year doubles your risks of falling again.… Read More