The doctor explained the reasons for the possible destruction of the nasal septum

The destruction of the nasal septum can occur with a severe background disease — autoimmune vasculitis, and not at all because of the bad habit of picking your nose. Irina Eroshkina, an otorhinolaryngologist, told Izvestia about this on December 9.

Autoimmune vasculitis is a condition in which the human immune system mistakenly attacks its own blood vessels, perceiving them as a foreign object. Inflammation of the walls of blood vessels leads to their narrowing, destruction and disruption of blood supply to tissues.

Earlier, the media reported that the Russian woman had been suffering from chronic dryness in her nose for three years with the constant formation of painful crusts, which she regularly removed. Over time, she began to notice a visual decrease in the shape of her nose, but she sought medical help very late when a significant part of the nasal septum was already destroyed.

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"Tissue destruction in this disease occurs due to ischemia, a lack of blood flow in the inflamed vessels of the nasal septum, which stop supplying oxygen and nutrients to the cartilage. This leads to necrosis, that is, the slow death of cartilage tissue, which could last for years," Eroshkina explained.

In place of the dead tissue, she specified, dense painful crusts are formed. The mechanical removal of these crusts by the patient was not the cause, but the consequence of the disease: she unconsciously removed already dead fragments of her own cartilage, which the body rejected, thereby accelerating and exacerbating the process of destruction caused by vasculitis.

Eroshkina noted that autoimmune vasculitis is a fairly rare disease. Granulomatosis with polyangiitis occurs in about 5-10 people per 1 million per year. However, nasal lesions, including ulcers, crusts, and septal deformity, are one of the most characteristic and early symptoms of this disease. Unfortunately, patients are often treated by ENT doctors for a long time for common chronic rhinitis or sinusitis until the disease manifests itself systemically.

"Any prolonged symptoms in the nose that do not respond to standard treatment — persistent bloody or purulent crusts, ulcers, pain, loss of sense of smell, a feeling of tissue destruction — are a direct indication for an in-depth examination. We need to consult not only an otorhinolaryngologist, but also a rheumatologist, special blood tests and a biopsy of the mucous membrane," the doctor noted.

On November 27, the ENT doctor of the Fomin Clinic network, Lusine Simonyan, said that it is enough for a child to wash his nose with saline solutions with a runny nose, all other drugs should be used only after consultation with a pediatrician. She noted that saline solutions are the safest and most versatile category of nasal care products.

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