Blog Archive

As the vibrant colors of fall transition to the colder months, many look forward to cozy sweaters, holidays, and crisp air. However, for allergy sufferers, fall and winter can bring a host of irritating symptoms. In addition to the well-known spring and summer allergy triggers, such as pollen and grass,...

Your child is back in school, and you want to make sure that their school year goes as smoothly as possible. But you worry that their asthma has different plans, so you want to do what you can to ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes...

You wake a little groggy and not all that well rested, and you hear from other family members that they have the same complaints. The problem is your snoring, robbing you and anyone within earshot of restorative sleep. You can point out to your grumbling family that 45% of adults...

In a perfect world, the piece of cartilage that separates your nose into nostrils — your septum — does so in a way that creates two equally-sized nasal passages. Unfortunately, the world is far from perfect, and up to 80% of the general population has some deviation in their septums,...

About 81 million — that’s the number of Americans of all ages who have hay fever, medically known as allergic rhinitis. Whatever you call it, this common issue leaves many people with itchy eyes, runny noses, sneezing, coughing, wheezing, and more. Especially during certain times of the year, such as...

Sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing — all five of these senses are incredibly important in how you navigate your life. And it’s only when one starts to fade that you realize just how much you relied on that sense, which is definitely true of hearing loss. About 15% of...

Thanks to painful ear infections, you’ve stopped counting the nights of lost sleep for both you and your child. It may be of some comfort to know that you’re not alone — about 5 out of 6 infants will have at least one ear infection before their third birthday. But your...

More than a quarter of kids and adults in the United States have an allergy, and food allergies certainly make up for a significant percentage of the overall issue — nearly 6% of the population has a food allergy. Dealing with food allergies can be challenging but certainly possible with the...

Each year in the United States, nearly 30 million people are diagnosed with sinusitis, an infection in their sinuses. This condition also leads to an incredible 73 million restricted-activity days (sick days). While the numbers indicate that sinusitis is common, Dr. Timothy Queen and the team here at Advanced ENT...

Kids should get anywhere from 9 to 13 hours of sleep each night (toddlers even more), so you want to ensure your child is hitting this crucial goal. For kids, good restorative sleep is vital for development, learning, and memory. Unfortunately, between 3% and 6% of kids in the United...

There are certain health issues that we associate with kids and teens, such as ear infections, acne, and sore throats due to tonsillitis. While these associations are strong, it certainly doesn’t mean that adults are immune to so-called childhood health conditions, which is certainly true with chronic sore throats. At...

There’s a tightness in your throat that’s making getting food down more difficult, Or perhaps food and drinks aren't going down the right pipes, causing you to choke and cough. Both of these scenarios fall under dysphagia, which describes difficulty swallowing in all of its many forms. If you thought...

Nasal polyps are usually benign growths in your nasal passages, and even this simple description gives you a fairly clear picture as to how they can affect your health. On the upper end of the scale, they can interfere with breathing; on the lower end, they don’t lead to any...

About 100 million — that’s how many people in the United States experience allergies each year. Most — about 81 million — have seasonal allergies, which lead to sneezing, wheezing, and watery eyes. But allergies can also lead to rashes, hives, and more. If you’ve developed symptoms you believe may be related...

You’ve spent years struggling to breathe thanks to sinus issues and are anxious to end the problem with sinus surgery. The road to breathing deeply and freely after sinus surgery requires a little patience on your part, but this patience will be rewarded. To give you an idea about what...

If there’s one thing you can count on with your child, it’s that they’ll have no small number of bumps, bruises, ear aches, and sore throats as they grow up, sometimes all in the same week. In fact, one-third of kids around the world will experience at least one sore throat each...

Congestion during the day is bad enough as you struggle to breathe deeply through your nose. At night, not only is your breathing compromised, those around you are kept up thanks to congestion-related snoring. While there are many potential culprits behind congestion issues, allergies certainly rank at, or near, the...

For such small humans, it’s amazing how loud children can snore, which you’ve likely noticed if you’re reading this blog. About 1 in 10 kids snore, and the reasons behind these nighttime noises are varied. To help you differentiate between perfectly normal childhood snoring and potentially problematic snoring, Dr. Timothy...

During the first years of your child’s life, communication can be tricky while they develop language skills and learns the words they need to tell you how they feel. This often leaves you guessing and turning to a bit of detective work to figure out whether something is amiss with...

Ah, spring — the season of renewal when shorter, duller days give over to longer days filled with sunshine and vibrant colors. For about 24 million adults and kids in the United States, however, spring is a time of sneezing, wheezing, watery eyes, and other unpleasant side effects that can come with...

About 50 million people in the United States experience allergies in any given year, and anything from airborne pollen to sesame seeds can trigger them. The best way to figure out whether you or a loved one has joined this group is by having us test for allergies. As the...

You’re having a conversation with someone at a party or restaurant, and, try as you might, you just can’t make out much of what they're saying. Instead of interrupting and asking others to speak louder or repeat themselves, you gamely smile and nod. Sadly, you’ve missed what they said and...

You have a dull throb around your eyes and/or cheeks, and the pain worsens when you move your head around. This type of discomfort is the hallmark of a sinus headache, which can be a very unpleasant condition to deal with. When you have a sinus headache, relief becomes a...

Infants are no strangers to ear infections — four out of five children develop at least one ear infection before their third birthday. While ear infections aren’t confined solely to children, they are far more common in kids than adults. If you’re a parent who wants to know more about ear infections...

You pop food into your mouth, chew, and swallow. While that all seems simple enough, swallowing is a three-phase process and each phase needs to function well for the act to come off without a hitch. When there’s a swallowing disorder present, it usually means there’s a malfunction in one...

Congestion, a little too much fun with friends over drinks, allergies — these are all common reasons people snore from time to time. Ongoing snoring, however, may signal a larger problem, such as sleep apnea, and the snoring aspect is the least of our concerns when it comes to this...

Of the 50 million people in the United States who have allergies, 32 million have food allergies, making it the most common type of allergy. While these numbers are already large, the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Connection Team reports that food allergies are rising in the US — the number of people with food...

The prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is fairly significant — 15% of people over the age of 18 report problems with hearing — and the prevalence skews toward the older population. Losing your hearing can greatly affect how you navigate your world, so recognizing the early signs of hearing...

You want your child to be healthy and happy, but they’re struggling with frequent throat infections or they’re having breathing or swallowing difficulties. In these cases, your child’s adenoids and/or tonsils may have become more of a liability than an asset, and removal may be a good option. To help...

Approximately 50 million people in the United States have allergies — for some, it’s nothing more than a seasonal nuisance, but, for others, allergies can have a serious impact on their lives. If your allergies are interfering with your life and you want more than on-the-spot treatments or short-term management...

Do you seem to catch colds easily or suffer from respiratory issues longer than others? If so, you may be part of the 12% of adults worldwide who suffer from chronic sinusitis.  Unfortunately, this condition can cause the development of nasal polyps. Although these soft bulbs of tissue are benign...

A lot is assumed, but little is known, about ear, nose and throat endoscopy. Many medical specialists use endoscopes to visualize areas that are difficult or impossible to examine with the naked eye. Most of the time, scopes are used to place the physician's eye directly at the site to...

What is epistaxis? It’s the doctor word for nosebleeds, because doctors have to have a special word for everything. It’s literally when, well, blood comes out of the nose. It’s a simple idea, but it can be a complex problem. Some causes of nosebleeds are obvious. When we operate on...

OK, first off, this is a daunting topic. There are many different causes of headaches, and to make matters more complicated, there are combination headaches of several types. Let’s start off by saying that many headaches, such as migraines, tension headaches and temporal mandibular joint syndrome are not of ear,...

Wait! I thought my driveway was black asphalt. Well, it is for most of the year, but suddenly, it has a distinct green sheen. What’s going on? It’s springtime in Southeastern Virginia, and the trees are pollinating. Now, every car, every screened porch, every piece of patio furniture, pretty much...

We are continuing to provide allergy shots and office visits during this peak allergy season. In an effort to help you maintain good health, we are minimizing the use of our waiting room. If you normally wait in the waiting room for 20 minutes following your shot, you may wait...

Hello, all! We hope that you are staying safe. We are still open and happy to continue serving your ENT and allergy needs. If you are not currently displaying coronavirus symptoms, we recommend that you continue your allergy shots. Face masks are available at our front desk if you wish...

One of the most common complaints seen in an ENT office is the reported sinus infection. Symptoms include congestion, headache, runny nose and post nasal drip. Oh, but wait. Those symptoms are also seen with colds and allergies. So, what’s the difference? How can you tell the difference between colds,...

In recent years, there has been a push to perform more surgeries in the office setting. Most of these are modifications of procedures performed in the operating room with IV sedation or general anesthesia. The advantages of in-office surgery are less anesthesia, greater convenience and lower costs. The potential drawback...

Few conditions are more annoying than urticaria, better known as hives. Not only can these little welts be uncomfortable and unsightly, they can also be a sign of a more serious medical condition. Fortunately, most cases of urticaria are benign and are usually caused by allergy. The allergens can be...

Some time ago, we discussed the nasal airway and ways to improve air flow. We covered both over the counter and prescription medications to help you breathe better. We presented both allergy shots and surgery to maximize the amount of air passing through your nose. Each of these treatments can...

I’ve often found it interesting when patients complain they have tonsil stones, considering that tonsil stones don’t really exist. Well, they’re not actually stones. The term is a misnomer. Unlike kidney stones or salivary stones, which are calcified and therefore hard, tonsil stones are soft and stinky, white or yellow...

One of the most annoying symptoms to ruin a patient’s day is the persistent cough. It is not limited to any particular time of the year. Some cases are acute and some cases are chronic, but the hallmark is that the symptom doesn’t go away as quickly as the patient...

As summer approaches, it’s a good time to learn about the problems that can affect your outer ear. If you’re going to the beach this summer, your outer ear is at risk for potential problems. These helpful hints can assist you throughout the summer, and the remainder of the year,...