Ahmad R. Sedaghat, MD, PhD

12/11/2021

Check out this great article in the Huffington Post on parosmia (distortion of one's sense of smell) after COVID-19 that I was featured in:

Parosmia distorts people's senses so much that even plain water can smell or taste like sewage or chemicals.

09/23/2021

Very grateful for the opportunity to speak about parosmia (distorted sense of smell) after COVID-19 on The News with Shepard Smith" on CNBC:

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/09/22/11-year-olds-sense-of-smell.html

Check it out!

CNBC's Andrea Day joins Shep Smith to discuss parosmia, which is a side-effect of Covid-19 that can make things smell repulsive.

09/20/2021

Check out this article in U.S. News and World Report on causes and treatment of nasal blockage/stuffiness/congestion that I was interviewed for!

Medications and home remedies may help you breathe a little easier.

06/29/2021

Check out this interview I did with Michael Monks at Cincinnati Public Radio about some recent research that our group performed on using portable air purifiers with HEPA filters as an easy way to reduce COVID-19 transmission.

At the University of Cincinnati, we've been using these in our clinical offices since the beginning of the pandemic to protect our patients and staff but these portable air purifiers can just as easily be used at home, workplace or anywhere people may gather. You use these portable air purifiers all of the time to reduce airborne allergens - now use them to reduce airborne coronavirus!

Now that more of us are gathering together indoors as pandemic restrictions ease, there are still precautions you can take to prevent the spread of COVID

04/07/2021

Check out my latest post on our University of Cincinnati Rhinology blog, discussing the relationship between asthma and chronic sinusitis. Many individuals don't realize that the lungs can be affected by chronic sinusitis. In the most common scenario, patients who are asthmatic frequently experience worsening of their asthma and increased frequency of asthma attacks when their chronic sinusitis gets out of control. There are even individuals with poorly controlled asthma who may not realize they have chronic sinusitis except for the poorly controlled asthma that they are experiencing. My blog post discusses the relationship between chronic sinusitis and asthma, and describes how chronic sinusitis can negatively impact asthma.

When we think about chronic sinusitis and how it affects a patient, we typically think about the classic sinonasal symptoms associated with chronic sinusitis. Symptoms such as nasal blockage, nasal drainage, sinus pressure and decreased sense of smell. These sinonasal symptoms are also used to diagn...

04/05/2021

Check out this interview that I did with Cincinnati ABC Channel 9 WCPO 9 on the differences between allergy symptoms and COVID-19. Click on the image for the full video! Thanks to WCPO 9 for having me on!

As the pandemic drags on into spring, some people are mistaking season allergies for COVID-19, according to local doctors.

03/07/2021

Many thanks to Claire Roden Beal for hosting Dr. Katie Phillips, MD, my partner at the University of Cincinnati, and I today on the Sphenoid Sinusitis Sufferers group for us to do a live Q&A/teaching session on the Sphenoid Sinus and Sphenoid Sinusitis. If you missed the session, here is a recording:

02/13/2021

Runny nose during exercise such as running, cycling, skiing or swimming is surprisingly common, occurring in up to 50% of individuals. The reasons and treatments are different depending on the situation and the sport. Here is a new blog post on our website about why some people get a runny nose when they exercise:

It has been known for over a hundred years that exercise can induce a runny nose. Between 25% and 50% of athletes will describe experiencing a runny nose during exercise (also referred to as “exercise-induced rhinitis”). While nasal drainage increases, nasal congestion/blockage typically decreas...

01/09/2021

In our allergy practice at the University of Cincinnati, we get a lot of questions from our patients about the COVID-19 vaccine and a history of allergy, a history of anaphylaxis and allergy shots (immunotherapy). Many of our patients have either a significant allergy history and/or are receiving allergy shots and they understandably have questions related to whether they can/should get the COVID-19 vaccine. Here is a link to a blog post on our website that addresses many of these questions that we get on the COVID-19 vaccine and allergies:

The long-awaited vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 is here and hopefully will be available to our population over the next several months. One question that may arise in patients with a history of allergies, is should I get the new vaccine? The short answer is likely YES, unless you have a history of sever...

01/05/2021

Check out this interview I did on Dayton's ABC-22 news about persistent smell loss due to COVID-19:

DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF/WRGT) -- A telltale sign you have COVID-19 is the loss of smell and taste. Yet, some COVID-19 survivors who overcame the virus say their senses aren't the same as they were before. Mari Levinson is a healthcare worker. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 in early June and lost her sen...

01/04/2021

Facial pain and pressure are symptoms frequently associated with sinus problems (like chronic sinusitis) and allergies. However, when patients describe very prominent facial pain/pressure symptoms, we start to become more suspicious of other craniofacial pain disorders, like migraine headaches, which can masquerade as "sinus pain". Check out this blog post that summarizes our approach to facial pain:

Facial pain can be debilitating, especially if it occurs every day. This can impact your ability to enjoy your daily activities such as eating, socializing and other things you like to do for fun. It can also decrease your sleep quality or your productivity at work. The pain and the subsequent conse...

12/29/2020

One common finding on a sinus CT scan (or MRI) is an "opacified maxillary sinus" (a "full" cheek sinus). Common causes are odontogenic sinusitis (i.e. dental cause) and fungal ball (i.e. mycetoma) but there are various other possible causes and treatment options. In this blog post (see link below), I discuss some of the thought processes behind how we approach an isolated, opacified maxillary sinus in the absence of other sinus disease:

One consultation that we often get is related to the an isolated, opacified maxillary sinus - having a "cheek sinus" that is totally (or almost totally) full but without disease in the other sinuses. In the setting of chronic sinusitis, it is certainly possible to have an opacified maxillary sinus b...