Type 2 Inflammation and Nasal Polyps

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Type 2 Inflammation and Nasal Polyps

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Why Nasal Polyps May Come Back After Treatment

Woman blowing her nose while a thought bubble filled with question marks floats over her head

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Nasal polyps

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4 out of 10 get polyps again after surgery

Narrator: Nasal polyps are a type of growth inside the nose or sinuses. They’re not cancerous, but they can interfere with sleep and cause a stuffy nose, loss of smell and taste, headaches, and other symptoms.

Often, these symptoms can be serious and affect your quality of life. When that happens, people often have treatment or even surgery to remove them.

But, unfortunately, nasal polyps can come back, even after surgery.

In fact, studies show that nasal polyps recur in 4 out of 10 people who have surgery to remove them.

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What is type 2 inflammation?

Cartoon cells carrying swords chasing down cartoon germs

Why do nasal polyps often come back? It has a lot to do with type 2 inflammation.

A type 2 immune response is when your immune system sends out type 2 immune cells that create inflammation to fight infections or allergens.

Cartoon cells charging around with swords, chasing nothing (no germs)

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Type 2 inflammation = common cause of nasal polyps

A little bit of inflammation can be a good thing because it kickstarts the healing process.

But, for some people, the type 2 immune response happens when there aren’t any intruders to fight — damaging healthy cells instead. This is called type 2 inflammation.

Many cases of nasal polyps are linked to type 2 inflammation .

Woman mowing lawn

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Type 2 inflammation = why polyps often come back

Treating nasal polyps is sort of like mowing the lawn. You can cut your grass, but it keeps growing back because it’s being fertilized.

With nasal polyps, type 2 inflammation is like the fertilizer that keeps them coming back.

Woman using nose spray

Woman sitting on surgery table in hospital gown

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Steroids and surgery don’t stop chronic inflammation

Nasal steroids temporarily bring down swelling in the nose, and surgery removes polyps.

But neither of these common treatments fix the underlying problem: type 2 inflammation.

Cartoon cells chasing and hitting type 2 inflammation (could be cartoon guys wearing type 2 sashes)

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Systemic treatments target type 2 inflammation

Systemic treatments like biologics for nasal polyps work through your whole body, not just your nose. They work by targeting different types of inflammation — including type 2.

Woman breathing deeply through her nose, smiling

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Systemic treatments may keep polyps from coming back

This means systemic treatments may be a good option for people who’ve tried steroids and surgery without success. And they may keep polyps from recurring after treatment.

Woman walks past lawn mower in yard as she heads out on a walk, smiling

If you’re treating nasal polyps without addressing type 2 inflammation, it’s like you’re stuck in a lawn-mowing loop.

Talk to your healthcare provider about treatments that don’t just cut the grass but also stop the fertilizer — so you can finally be polyp-free.