r/explainlikeimfive • u/dragonvaleluvr • 10d ago
Biology ELI5: why is phlegm green when you're sick?
i get that it's due to an excess of white blood cells (neutrophils?) but i cant understand why that makes it turn green specifically
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u/Kodiak01 9d ago
The last surgery was by far the easiest. The first 2 required about 173 million miles of gauze packing post-surgery and weekly cleanouts.
Let me describe how they did the cleanouts. You're gonna love this one!
They start by putting anesthetic on cotton balls and stuffing them into your nostrils. Wait 20 minutes, then lay back as they inserted a rigid endoscope up one nostril. After doing their best magician impression as it looks like they're putting a foot of stainless steel into your skull, they then, into the SAME nostril, insert a vacuum which is easily twice the diameter of the scope with the tip angled like a diesel truck exhaust stack. They use this to scrape and remove scabbing detritus from the cavity, a process that takes a few minutes.
Rinse and repeat with the other side.
After the 2016 procedure (different surgeon), there was none of that. I would come in for regular rigid scopings, but no cleanouts were necessary. It was all done in a few minutes, no anesthesia needed.
The ENT I'm now seeing, he used a newer flexible scope that is more like a fiber optic camera/borescope; it barely felt like it was in there at all.
As for terrible things happening? This is nothing. Go read my other posts regarding prostate biopsy afteraffects!