It is possible that you have blown your nose so hard it hurts you, but even so, you were not even close to a case that has become part of medical literature. This was the story of a woman who blew her nose, and ended up in the emergency room with a broken face and no vision.
The case was published a few weeks ago in the BMJ Case Report and, basically, it spoke of a 36-year-old woman from the United Kingdom who blew her nose beyond the threshold of pain.
Apparently, the girl was at work when she blew her nose, but the force with which she performed such an activity caused her an orbital emphysema, a condition in which air is injected into the spaces of the soft tissues and is trapped. The orbit refers to the hole in the skull that covers the eye.
Immediately after blowing her nose, the girl temporarily lost sight in both eyes. Then, a couple of hours later, the left eye began to swell and she began to bleed from the left nostril, all followed by extreme pain on the left side of her head and neck. At the hospital, the woman underwent a CT scan that showed a fracture in the left eye. He also showed that the bone around the eye had broken.
The truth is that orbital fractures due to a burst are almost always caused by acute trauma. The bone, known as lamina papyracea, is very thin. Therefore, traumatic injuries with forceful force, such as a blow to the face with a ball or a punch, can easily cause bruising or swelling around the eye. According to Dr. Sam Myers , the lead author of the study that treated women:
“I’ve never, ever heard of it ever happening from someone blowing their nose. Everyone blows their nose. They don’t think they can blow out their eye.” However, it’s fairly easy to fracture some small facial bones, but it’s “very rare” that such a thing would happen from blowing your nose.
According to the doctors, the fracture was a clean break and relatively easy to treat. They prescribed analgesics and did not need surgery, since most cases resolve on their own with the passing of days.
Myers himself made it clear that a nose is not at risk for a possible orbital emphysema, but that this case should put us on alert, and that she ” likely will be blowing her nose more gently in the future”.
Source: LiveScience , TIME
