what is the difference between hypertonic packets and regular salt packets

As for your question about isotonic and hypertonic, please review the brochure. I would make an additional comment that isotonic is a 0.9% solution, that is 9 grams of sodium chloride placed in 1 liter of solution or 0.9 grams of sodium chloride is placed in 100 ml of solution. For your information, 100 ml of solution is close to about 3.4 oz. The term isotonic is used because iso is equal and tonic is for the tonicity of the solution. The isotonic solution is the solution of a concentration that will be in equilibrium within an area of the cellular structure. When tissue is in contact with the isotonic solution, it should not create any osmotic shift and will not create swelling of the tissue or a reduction of shrinkage in the size of the tissue. Hypertonic is any solution that is in a higher concentration than is equivalent to a 0.9% solution of sodium chloride. Hypertonic implies increased tonicity of the solution. When tissue is in contact with a hypertonic solution, there will be an osmotic shift and water molecules will come out of the tissue and there will be shrinkage in the size of the tissue. The reason that some physicians prefer to use a hypertonic solution is to create shrinkage of the tissue allowing one to breathe better. While theoretically this sounds like a great idea, there are practical clinical issues in the long term use of hypertonic solutions. If hypertonic solutions are used for more than a few days, it can possibly paralyze the ciliary movement of the nasal and sinus linings which in turn can create adverse side effects. I apologize for using a lot of scientific terms in this discussion and if you have any further interest, please feel free to contact me at my office or you can also do an online search and you will get enough information to understand the difference between isotonic and hypertonic solutions.