Disturbing reason behind woman’s disappearing nose
A woman has visited doctors exhibiting an almost complete loss of her nose.
The woman, 34, went to Massachusetts General Hospital in the US for plastic surgery, according to her case in the New England Journal of Medicine.
She had a chronic sinus infection and nasal polyps along with “bloody nasal crusting” and deformity which had progressed over seven years.
“Physical examination revealed a near-total loss of the nasal bones and septal cartilage, which had resulted in complete collapse of the nasal bridge and retraction of the nasal tip,” researchers wrote.
Doctors noted she did not have a history of cocaine use.
A CT scan found “severe, near-complete opacification of the paranasal sinuses and a large nasal septal perforation”.
The woman was diagnosed with granulomatosis with polyangiitis.
Granulomatosis with polyangiitis is when blood vessels inflame the nose, sinuses and kidneys.
As researchers noted, the condition, an autoimmune disorder, can lead to “septal perforation and destruction of the sinonasal cavities”.
It can be necrotising, which means it eats away at skin and flesh in “the upper and lower respiratory tract and the kidneys”.
The woman was given a number of medications and a follow-up six months later found “bloody nasal discharge and crusting had resolved”, however she still had a nasal deformity.
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