<p>Hi, I have a question about the nose that I hope someone with knowledge or experience can share some info.</p>
<p>Does cold temperature make the blood vessels in the nose constrict or dilate? </p>
<p>Common sense tells me it constrict. Sometimes when I step outside into a cold winter day, I feel my nose “openining up” immediately. So it seems the cold constrict the blood vessels. Also, when I have a nosebleed, if I step outside in the winter, the bleeding stops fast. My friends also have this experience. This means the blood vessels get constricted by the cold. </p>
<p>But I also heard the blood vessels in the nose will dilate when it’s cold because the nose have to “warm” the cold air and the colder it is the more “warming” it needs to do so more blood get sent to the surface. </p>
<p>Which one seems right? I’ve always thought that it’s “common knowledge” that cold constrict blood vessels on the surface of skins, hence we use icepacks. </p>
<p>I seem to remember…very vaguely though…that it’s a exposure time condition. Initially you get vasoconstriction, secondarily the need to humidify the incoming air overtakes the vasoconstriction, and further get the increased nasal secretions (which is tied to vasodilitation).</p>
<p>All that said…don’t quote me on that answer.</p>
<p>Bigredmed, so you are saying it will first constrict, but because cold air tend to be dry, the need to humidify the air will make it secrete moisture (like mucuos), and that’s tied to vasodilation…</p>
<p>You vaguely remember reading that from textbook?</p>
<p>so it seems the cold temperature, in absence of dryness, by itself will constrict the vessels. But due to dryness, the nose need to moisturize. It does this by dilating the blood vessels which will in turn cause mucous secretion.</p>