What are the common symptoms of acute pharyngitis?

Pharyngitis is a relatively common throat disease. Generally, there are more male patients than female patients. Moreover, the highest proportion of men are smokers. So what are the general symptoms of acute pharyngitis?

Symptoms of acute pharyngitis

1. Throat discomfort, common symptoms include dryness, swelling, blockage, itching, discomfort when swallowing, and foreign body sensation in the throat. Because the pharyngeal secretions are thick, patients often make "grunting sounds" in the hope of clearing the pharyngeal secretions.

2. The patient's pharynx is sensitive, which can easily cause nausea, and the pharyngeal mucosa is congested and dark red. Scattered protruding small particles or pieces like beads can be seen on the posterior pharyngeal wall. There is a dilated vascular network around them, and the surface is sometimes attached with mucus or purulent secretions.

3. Pharyngitis is a common disease, which is a diffuse pharyngeal lesion caused by chronic infection, mainly inflammation of the pharyngeal mucosa. It is more common in adults, and its main causes include recurrent acute pharyngitis, long-term irritation from dust or harmful gases, excessive smoking and drinking or other bad living habits, irritation from sinusitis secretions, allergic constitution or reduced body resistance, etc. Therefore, everyone must pay attention to the early signs of pharyngitis to prevent it from becoming more serious, which will make it more difficult to treat.

Timely diagnosis is the key to curing pharyngitis

1. Check the oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal mucosa: Check for diffuse congestion and swelling of the oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal mucosa, edema of the palatine arch and suspensory edema, and redness and swelling of the posterior pharyngeal wall lymph follicles and lateral pharyngeal cords.

2. Oropharyngeal examination is the simplest and most practical method: the patient sits upright and breathes naturally with his mouth open. The doctor sits opposite and first examines the oral cavity with a tongue depressor. He then gently presses the tongue depressor down to the front 1/3 of the tongue to lower the back of the tongue, exposing the oropharynx and observing the soft palate, etc.

Related examinations for patients with pharyngitis

1. Indirect nasopharyngeal endoscopy: The patient sits upright, tilts his head back slightly, opens his mouth naturally and breathes calmly through his nose. The doctor holds the tongue depressor to press down the back of the tongue, holds the nasopharyngeal mirror in the right hand (it should be slightly heated first to prevent the mirror from fogging up), gently extends it between the uvula and the posterior pharyngeal wall, adjusts the angle of the mirror, and observes the nasopharynx.

2. Indirect laryngoscopy: The patient sits upright, tilts his head back slightly, opens his mouth and sticks out his tongue. The doctor wraps the front 1/3 of the tongue with gauze, pinches the tongue with the left thumb and middle finger, gently pulls the tongue outward and downward, pushes the upper lip with the index finger, holds the indirect laryngoscope with the left hand in a writing posture, with the mirror facing forward and downward, the back of the mirror close to the front of the uvula, and pushes the soft palate up to observe the laryngopharynx and laryngeal cavity.