Solutiile izotonice sunt potrivite pentru curațarea nazala, ele nu pot funcționa ca decongestionante. Acest lucru se datoreaza faptului ca acestea au aceeasi concentratie de sare cu tesuturile sinonazale.

The isotonic solutions, iare suited for nasal hygiene and cannot function as decongestants. They have the same salt concentration as the sinonasal tissues. However, the hypertonic solutions can both clean and decongest the nasal passages. Due to the higher salt concentration, they can be considered natural decongestants. Thus, the hypertonic solutions can extract the excess water in the mucous membranes (through a process called osmosis), thus reducing the space the swollen tissues occupy in the nasal cavities and diluting the accumulated viscous mucosa. Moreover, it has been scientifically proved that the cilia responsible for the evacuation of the mucus and dirt particles, the cilia that, in certain conditions, do not function properly, improve, with the help of hypertonic solutions, their functions. However, a salt concentration above 3% has proven to have the adverse effect on cilia’s function and is, in addition, irritant to the sinonasal mucosa. Washing your throat with salty water can, on the other hand, alleviate soreness of throat.

The sea water is enriched with trace elements. They are essential to life. Thus, it is considered that the sea water solutions are more beneficial than simple saline solutions.

The hypertonic sea water solution is different from the isotonic sea water solution on account of:

It drains the nasal mucosa thus decongesting it

It improves the mucociliary activity thus removing dirt particles and mucus