Whether it’s large or small, button-like or beak-like, your nose plays an important role in your health.
It filters the air you breathe, removing dust, germs and irritants. It warms and moistens the air to keep your lungs and tubes that lead to them from drying out.
Your nose also contains the nerve cells that help your sense of smell. And the stuffy nose of the common cold can make it hard for you to breathe, sleep or get comfortable.
This “nasal congestion” doesn’t always happen because of too much thick mucus. In most cases, your nose becomes congested when the tissues lining it become swollen from inflamed blood vessels.
Nasal congestion causes include:
- Common cold
- Flu
- Sinus infection
- Hay fever or other allergies
- Use of some nasal sprays or drops for more than three days
- Nasal polyps
- Pregnancy
- Vasomotor rhinitis
Other nose conditions include:
- Deviated septum
- Nasal polyps
- Nosebleeds
- Rhinitis
- Broken nose
Deviated Septum
The shape of your nasal cavity could be the cause of chronic sinusitis.
The nasal septum is the wall dividing the nasal cavity into halves. And the ideal nasal septum is exactly in the middle, separating the left and right sides of your nose into passageways of equal size.
A “deviated septum” occurs when the septum is severely shifted away from the midline. Nasal trauma is often the cause of a deviated septum.
Deviated septum symptoms include:
- Difficulty breathing through one or both nostrils
- Poor drainage of the sinuses
- Nasal congestion, sometimes one-sided
- Frequent nosebleeds
- Frequent sinus infections
- At times, facial pain, headaches, postnasal drip
- Noisy breathing during sleep
Septoplasty surgery for a deviated septum can help patients breathe better. This is performed entirely through the nostrils so no bruising or external signs occur.
