I know that heavy cocaine use can wear down the cartilage of the nose, even to the point where it can form a hole. But aside from that, can the nose heal itself from the stuffiness and constant dripping? Also, can a doctor tell if a person has used cocaine by looking up a patient's nose, even if that patient hasn't used in a long time? The more detail the better. Thank you.
Can the nose heal from cocaine use?
Question posted by broke_bad on 7 Feb 2012
Last updated on 7 February 2012 by Anonymous
Answers
Broke,
Depends on how much damage you did to your nasal mucosa. One does not have to have a hole eaten all the way through the cartilage to suffer damage. Cocaine cause severe vasoconstriction of the vasculature in the nose, thus cutting off a lot of the blood supply, leading to cellular death and scarring. From the symptoms you are describing, sounds to me like your nasal mucusa is trying to make a come back... if you can keep your nose out of the coke. Just carry a hanky and some normal saline spray around with your to help healing and the stuffiness. Think you are gonna drip for a while, but you might want to try a bit of Benadryl for the drippies,
Sorry, most ENT docs know just what a coke nose looks like as their is scarring involved. You could try lying and tell him it is overuse of oxymetazalone (Afrin) as it causes some of the same vasoconstriction.
Good luck and save yourself some money,
The Happy, Non-Drippie Hippie
Laura
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