Nasal PolypsSymptoms, Doctors, Treatments, Advances & More
Learn About Nasal Polyps
Nasal polyps are soft, sac-like growths on the lining of the nose or sinuses.
Nasal polyps can grow anywhere on the lining of the nose or the sinuses. They often grow where the sinuses open into the nasal cavity. Small polyps may not cause any problems. Large polyps can block your sinuses or nasal airway.
Nasal polyps are not cancer. They seem to grow due to long-term swelling and inflammation in the nose from allergies, asthma, or infection.
No one knows exactly why some people get nasal polyps. If you have any of the following conditions, you may be more likely to get nasal polyps:
- Aspirin sensitivity
- Asthma
- Long-term (chronic) sinus infections
- Cystic fibrosis
- Hay fever
If you have small polyps, you may not have any symptoms. If polyps block nasal passages, a sinus infection can develop.
Symptoms include:
- Runny nose
- Stuffed up nose
- Sneezing
- Feeling like your nose is blocked
- Loss of smell
- Loss of taste
- Headache and pain if you also have a sinus infection
- Snoring
With polyps, you may feel like you always have a head cold.
Medicines may help relieve symptoms, but rarely get rid of nasal polyps.
- Nasal steroid sprays can sometimes shrink polyps. They help clear blocked nasal passages and runny nose. Symptoms return if treatment is stopped.
- Corticosteroid pills or liquid may also shrink polyps, and can reduce swelling and nasal congestion. The effect lasts a few months in most cases.
- Allergy medicines can help prevent polyps from growing back.
- Antibiotics can treat a sinus infection caused by bacteria. They can't treat polyps or sinus infections caused by a virus.
If medicines don't work, or you have very large polyps, you may need surgery to remove them.
- Endoscopic sinus surgery is often used to treat polyps. With this procedure, your surgeon uses a thin, lighted tube with instruments at the end. The tube is inserted into your nasal passages and your surgeon removes the polyps.
- Usually you can go home the same day.
- Polyps may come back, even after surgery.
- Sometimes biologics are used for preventing polyps from coming back. Biologics are a class of medicines called monoclonal antibodies, which target a specific protein to control the disease process.
Robert Kern is an Otolaryngologist in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Kern has been practicing medicine for over 41 years and is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Nasal Polyps. His top areas of expertise are Nasal Polyps, Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps (CRSwNP), Asthma, Endoscopy, and Nerve Decompression.
Bruce Tan is an Otolaryngologist in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Tan has been practicing medicine for over 22 years and is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Nasal Polyps. His top areas of expertise are Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps (CRSwNP), Nasal Polyps, Sinusitis, Endoscopy, and Nerve Decompression.
Brigham And Women's Allergy And Clinical Immunology
Dr. Tanya M. Laidlaw completed her medical degree at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, her residency in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, and then entered an Allergy/Immunology fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. She performed her research training in the laboratory of Joshua A. Boyce, MD, where she focused on the pathogenesis of asthma and Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD), and the pro-inflammatory role of the platelet and specific lipids in this disorder. Dr. Laidlaw joined the faculty in 2009, and is now an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and is the Director of Translational Research in Allergy and Director of the AERD Center at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.Her research continues to be focused on understanding AERD, nasal polyposis, and aspirin and NSAID allergies, and she is dedicated to investigating the causative mechanisms and exploring new treatments for these diseases. Her group at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s AERD Center follows over 1400 patients with AERD and nasal polyps and has several ongoing research studies that are recruiting and enrolling patients. Dr. Laidlaw is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Nasal Polyps. Her top areas of expertise are Nasal Polyps, Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps (CRSwNP), Sinusitis, Asthma, and Endoscopy.
Removing polyps with surgery often makes it easier to breathe through your nose. Over time, however, nasal polyps often return.
Loss of smell or taste does not always improve following treatment with medicine or surgery.
Complications may include:
- Bleeding
- Infection
- Polyps coming back after treatment
Contact your provider if you often find it hard to breathe through your nose.
You can't prevent nasal polyps. However, nasal sprays, antihistamines, and allergy shots may help prevent polyps that block your airway. Newer treatments such as injection therapy with anti-IgE antibodies may help prevent polyps from coming back.
Treating sinus infections right away also may help.
Summary: This is a single-arm extension study to investigate the long-term safety, tolerability, and efficacy of lunsekimig in adult participants with inadequately controlled CRSwNP who have completed a previous lunsekimig CRSwNP clinical study (also referred to as the parent study ACT18207). The study duration will be up to approximately 56 weeks per participant, 52 weeks of treatment period, and 4 weeks ...
Summary: The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lebrikizumab in participants with chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyps treated with intranasal corticosteroids. The study will last about 18 months.
Published Date: July 28, 2025
Published By: Ashutosh Kacker, MD, FACS, Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Attending Otolaryngologist, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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Chi DH, Tobey A. Otolaryngology. In: Zitelli BJ, McIntire SC, Nowalk AJ, Garrison J, eds. Zitelli and Davis' Atlas of Pediatric Physical Diagnosis. 8th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2023:chap 24.
Haddad J. Nasal polyps. In: Kliegman RM, St. Geme JW, Blum NJ, et al, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 22nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2025:chap 427.
Murr AH, Pletcher SD. Approach to the patient with nose, sinus, and ear disorders. In: Goldman L, Cooney KA, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 27th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2024:chap 394.