What other treatments do you know for treating nasal septum deviation using traditional Chinese medicine?

The reason for the deflection of the nasal septum is that during the development of people, the nasal bones grow at different rates, causing the hard bone and cartilage to squeeze each other. Another reason is that the nose is hit, such as bumping into the wall in the middle of the night, or falling, which can cause it to bend. So everyone should protect themselves in life. If the situation is serious, there will also be symptoms such as nasal congestion, snoring, and nosebleeds. Once these symptoms appear, it is recommended that you go to the hospital for treatment in time.

Causes of a deviated nasal septum: There are two main causes of a deviated nasal septum. During the growth and development process, the different growth rates of the nasal septum bone and cartilage will cause the cartilages to squeeze each other and bend outward, which is one of the common causes of nasal septum cartilage curvature. In addition, impact injury to the nose bridge (the nasal septum may be crooked by a punch during a fight or bent by a fall) is also a common cause.

Possible symptoms of severe nasal septum deviation As mentioned above, nasal septum deviation is a very common phenomenon. But most people don’t know it themselves because they don’t feel any discomfort. But when the nasal septum is too curved, the following symptoms may occur:

1. Easy to have nasal congestion: Nasal congestion can be unilateral or bilateral. It is easy to understand that the nasal passages on the convex side of the curved nasal septum are more likely to become blocked at first. But later on, even the nasal passage on the concave side may become blocked. That is because the inferior turbinate on that side will compensatorily hypertrophy, forming chronic hypertrophic rhinitis. At first, the problem of nasal congestion may only occur when you have a cold or nasal allergies, but later it will become a habitual and frequent nasal congestion. Moreover, the frequent nasal congestion caused by this kind of deviated nasal septum is often not effectively treated with medication.

2. Prone to snoring: The problem of nasal congestion is often particularly obvious when lying down, so it is easy to snore while sleeping, affecting the quality of sleep. In severe cases, breathing interruptions may even occur during sleep.

3. Chronic pharyngitis: Due to nasal congestion and frequent mouth breathing, chronic pharyngitis with dry mouth and sore throat will develop over time.

4. Prone to nosebleeds: The convex side of the nasal septum curve is prone to dilation of the capillaries due to long-term stimulation of abnormal airflow, making nosebleeds more likely.

5. Rhinogenic headache: The convex side of the curved nasal septum can easily touch the nasal concha on that side, especially when the nasal concha is inflamed and swollen due to a cold. This may stimulate the trigeminal nerve in the nasal cavity and cause a rhinogenic headache.

6. Poor sense of smell: A curved nasal septum will change the airflow in the nasal passage and reduce the airflow at the top of the nasal cavity, which is where the olfactory nerves are distributed, thus possibly worsening the sense of smell.

Sinusitis is a common complication. There are three nasal conchae on each side of the outer wall of the nasal cavity, which separate the nasal passage into the superior nasal passage, the middle nasal passage, and the inferior nasal passage. The openings of each sinus are located in the middle and superior nasal meatus. More severe nasal septum deflection often causes the openings of these sinuses to be blocked. At this time, due to poor sinus ventilation, the patient is prone to dizziness, difficulty concentrating, and may even suffer from sinus headaches. If ventilation is poor for a long time and the drainage of sinus secretions is not smooth, it is easy to cause the difficult disease of chronic sinusitis.

Surgery is the only corrective treatment. When the deviated nasal septum has caused the above-mentioned discomfort symptoms, or even caused sinusitis, the effect of drug treatment is usually limited, and surgical treatment (septoplasty) is the only possible correction method. However, surgery is usually recommended after the age of 18 because the nasal septum is still growing before then. The surgical method is very simple and usually only requires local anesthesia. It mainly involves removing excessively curved and protruding cartilage. It is one of the simpler ENT surgeries. If the patient also has problems with inferior turbinate hypertrophy or chronic sinusitis, the doctor may perform inferior turbinate resection and sinus surgery at the same time.

A deviated nasal septum is very common, but in most cases it does not cause any problems. So, even if you look in the mirror and suspect that your septum is crooked, you can ignore it if you don't feel any discomfort. However, once the aforementioned symptoms appear, you should seek surgical treatment from an ENT physician as soon as possible! There is no need to endure the discomfort and pain it brings. Because it won’t get better on its own.