Health Library

Sinus x-ray

Paranasal sinus radiography; X-ray - sinuses

A sinus x-ray is an imaging test to look at the sinuses. These are the air-filled spaces in the front of the skull.

Images

I Would Like to Learn About:

How the Test is Performed

A sinus x-ray is taken in a hospital radiology department. Or the x-ray may be taken in your health care provider's office. You will be asked to sit in a chair so that any fluid in the sinuses can be seen in the x-ray images. The technologist may place your head in different positions as the images are taken.

How to Prepare for the Test

Tell your provider or x-ray technologist if you are or think you are pregnant. You will be asked to remove all jewelry. You may be asked to change into a gown.

How the Test will Feel

There is little or no discomfort with a sinus x-ray.

Why the Test is Performed

The sinuses are located behind the forehead, nasal bones, cheeks, and eyes. When the sinus openings become blocked or too much mucus builds up, bacteria and other germs can grow. This can lead to an infection and inflammation of the sinuses called sinusitis.

A sinus x-ray is ordered when you have any of the following:

• Symptoms of a sinus infection (sinusitis)
• Other sinus disorders, such as a deviated septum (crooked or bent septum, the structure that separates the nostrils)
• Symptoms of another infection of that area of the head

These days, a sinus x-ray is not often ordered. This is because a CT scan of the sinuses shows more detail.

What Abnormal Results Mean

The x-ray may detect an infection, blockages, bleeding or tumors.

Risks

There is low radiation exposure. X-rays are monitored and regulated so that the lowest amount of radiation is used to produce the image.

Pregnant women and children are more sensitive to the risks of x-rays.

Related Information

References

Beale T, Jawad S. Head and neck radiology. In: Adam A, Dixon AK, Gillard JH, Schaefer-Prokop CM, eds. Grainger & Allison's Diagnostic Radiology. 7th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2021:chap 61.

Mettler FA. Head and soft tissues of face and neck. In: Mettler FA, ed. Essentials of Radiology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019:chap 2.

Review Date: 7/28/2025  

Reviewed 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.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, for Health Content Provider (www.urac.org). URAC's accreditation program is an independent audit to verify that A.D.A.M. follows rigorous standards of quality and accountability. A.D.A.M. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services. Learn more about A.D.A.M.'s editorial policy, editorial process and privacy policy. A.D.A.M. is also a founding member of Hi-Ethics. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.

The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, timeliness, or correctness of any translations made by a third-party service of the information provided herein into any other language.

© 1997- 2026 A.D.A.M., a business unit of Ebix, Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.

All content on this site including text, images, graphics, audio, video, data, metadata, and compilations is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may view the content for personal, noncommercial use. Any other use requires prior written consent from Ebix. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, display, publish, reverse-engineer, adapt, modify, store beyond ordinary browser caching, index, mine, scrape, or create derivative works from this content. You may not use automated tools to access or extract content, including to create embeddings, vectors, datasets, or indexes for retrieval systems. Use of any content for training, fine-tuning, calibrating, testing, evaluating, or improving AI systems of any kind is prohibited without express written consent. This includes large language models, machine learning models, neural networks, generative systems, retrieval-augmented systems, and any software that ingests content to produce outputs. Any unauthorized use of the content including AI-related use is a violation of our rights and may result in legal action, damages, and statutory penalties to the fullest extent permitted by law. Ebix reserves the right to enforce its rights through legal, technological, and contractual measures.