Mohammed: About last year September I got sick and I went to the doctor. He diagnosed a common flu and said to me it was my sinuses. He treated me and I was fine. A week later I got sick again with the flu, went to the doctor and he treated me again. In about October I got sick again and now I am wondering what?s going on. After all this treatment I then popped my eardrum and got severe headaches, ended up at the ENT specialist, went for the scans and then she said I?ve got a sinus congestion and a very skew nose septum. She said she has to operate but I said Dr Seftel says one has to earn an operation so let?s try all the treatments and if all that failed and I?ve earned the operation, I?ll look at it from that point of view. Everything went fine and I was in hospital for a week on the drips et cetera. Everything cleared up. But I am finding that again this thing is starting to come up and where the problem starts is in-between my eyes and on my nose and my forehead there?s where it starts and I get these headaches. I?m 32 years old, I?ve never had a problem with a skew nose septum and I don?t want to go for the operation.

Prof Harry: What you are describing is inflammation in the sinuses, sinusitis, inflammation in the middle ear, and that resulted in the bursting of the drum, and the question now is what is the cause as I?m always asking. There are three possibilities and they are often interrelated. The cause might be an allergic condition. What they call a flu or a cold, might actually have been an allergic condition involving the nose, the sinuses and the ears. Related to that maybe is that on top of the allergy or instead of the allergy, you had an infection. And the third cause, and that?s the one that seems very likely, is that you?ve got a mechanical problem which is interfering for example with the drainage of the sinuses. And as a result, you have got the sinusitis, namely you?ve got a skew or a deviated septum. We must treat the cause if that is the cause. I would say if you have got a markedly deviated septum which has resulted in impaired drainage of your sinuses, then I think it is quite reasonable to correct that skewed septum. And it is not a major operation. It is a very common problem that you?ve got. You were born like that. The good Lord doesn?t make us all perfect. Under those circumstances it is perfectly acceptable to go and have that septum corrected. Because if you don?t have that done, what?s happening is what you are telling me. It is going to happen over and over again. You are going to continue having infections.

Mohammed: How come it has only developed now?

Prof Harry: This happens commonly. For reasons that we don?t understand it sometimes only manifests at this age. It may be that you may have had a very severe bout of flu and then the combination of the two has given rise to your problem. If you are still hesitant, to satisfy yourself please go and get a second opinion and if the two of them agree, go and have the operation.