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Question for Dr Naveen

Dr Naveen,

my cousin has some problem with her nose. She is 33 yr old. She has a swelling inside her nose. It gets red whenever she has common cold or any allergy. also some headache. the swelling appears whitish color when there is no cold. swelling is not visible from outside.

please give your opinion. thanks.
Best Answer
1337001 tn?1276883841
Hi Ahmed34,

                   The swelling in the nose is a common anatomical structure which is called turbinate and humans have a set of 3 turbinates in both the nostrils, this helps in warming and humidification of the air we inhale. We can usually see the lower most pair of turbinates on the either side of the nostril. It obviously gets enlarged during the attacks of common cold and appears red because of the congestion. During normal days the turbinates shrink and they are not very much visible.

                     But there is something you need to clarify, does your cousin have any recurrent sneezing, running nose, nasal block and headache, if so there are chances that she might develop allergic nasal polyposis (which appears as pearly white swellings), rarely do they get infected and appear red. Please do furnish few more information regarding this, so I can do my best to clear off your doubts.

Regards
OHNS2010
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1337001 tn?1276883841
Hi Ahmed34,

                  That’s good, she does not have frequent sneezing and running nose, hence allergic rhinitis is ruled out. So it’s not a polyp but a normal turbinate.

                   Yes, often there might be unilateral enlargement of the turbinate secondary to the deviation of the nasal septum and it is usually harmless. Only during an attack of common cold will that become enlarged and can cause nasal obstruction. So as a long term remedy she can do some steam inhalation whenever she gets an attack of cold.

Regards
OHNS2010
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Avatar universal
Thank you doctor so much. She does not have very frequent sneezing, etc. Only occasionally.  Doctor, is it possible that the turbinate can swell on one side more than other? And how should she take care so that this does not become a problem long term?

Thank you
Helpful - 0
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