<p>Your nose is mostly cartilage with a small bit of bone. You need to have it looked at to see if they need to splint it to keep your nose in shape. When you see a boxer’s nose all whacked up, that’s the cartilage beaten up not bone. </p>
<p>You likely won’t need an x-ray for diagnosis but they may do one anyway as a precaution, especially if they follow sensible protocols and ask you concussion questions. You do not want bleeding in your head because that might kill you, so if you have had any heavy drowsiness, if you lost consciousness, if you have a whopping headache, then see someone to rule out that 1 chance in many thousands that you’ve done something bad inside your head.</p>
<p>I think you might want to check with an ENT, or someone who could diagnose a deviated septum. I found out a couple of years ago that I have one, and it interferes with optimal breathing. I asked whether the doctor thought it was congenital or a result of injury, and he thought injury, although I can’t remember thinking my nose was broken ever. I did take some shots to it from time to time in athletics, but never felt as though it had been injured in any permanent way. There’s a chance I was wrong about that.</p>
<p>Lergnom, thanks! The only thing that got hit was my nose; the rest of my face is okay (though it may be killing others, as the grade school joke goes). No head involvement, not even a bloody nose; both other times I broke my nose, I got a bloody nose, the second time, spectacularly so.</p>
<p>(I keep hearing a Simon and Garfunkel song on the radio in my head, and where did this pocketful of mumbles come from…?)</p>
<p>No loss of consciousness or any other concussion symptoms. I did think a stream of curse words, though! </p>
<p>jym, I’m still breathing, woo-hoo!!</p>
<p>dadx, I know from previous xrays that I have a deviated septum, those xrays necessary after a spectacular (bloody, painful) faceplant into a screen door. (That’s how I broke my nose the second time, yee-haw.)</p>
<p>For the nose-break experts here on the forum… my daughter had a minor “trauma” to her nose recently (within the last week), had no bleeding (which I guess isn’t an indicator), but did and still does have pain and is having occasional twitching, spasms and shooting pains in the bridge. Didn’t think it was necessary to have it checked out before but could there be something going on here?</p>
<p>Definitely see a good nose doc. Ours didn’t want to even see S until 7 - 10 days after the trauma; this way any swelling had gone down. A good nose md can usually tell if it’s broken at that point, and they won’t work on it before the swelling’s down. They do the work right then and there to press it back into shape, then put a nose splint on for a week.</p>
<p>After 14 days, the cartilage and everything starts to solidify into whatever place it’s in, so get it checked out soon. It’s a much bigger deal to fix after that.</p>
<p>We were out of town when it happened, and the small town hospital was going to schedule nose surgery. Glad we didn’t go through with it. Surgery is mainly for car-accident-quality trauma when newly broken. Found out that the 7-10 day window was appropriate for most “nasal fractures.”</p>
<p>Oh, and there was absolutely no bleeding. Everyone said it can’t be broken since it’s not bleeding, but the xrays the little hospital took showed the break.</p>
<p>And when they fix the nose, they really numb it up first; shots in the upper gums, the nose, packs soaked in numbing liquid stuffed into the nose (they look like skinny little tampons with very long strings.) All done in the examination room. We went to the head&neck building at a university medical center. Doc was also a plastic surgeon specializing in noses.</p>
<p>RatedPG, if it’s hurting, yes, please have it checked out – shooting pains in the bridge of the nose?! Spasms?!? Yikes!!! Yes, have someone look at it! </p>
<p>bonnie, good to know about the 7-10 day window; thanks! </p>
<p>mafool, you are welcome to call me just plain ol’ OW; you wouldn’t be the first to do so. ~~ sigh ~~</p>
<p>Sunnyflorida, I had the same thought re elder abuse - although I’m assuming the OP is not in that age category. I’ve known cases where the injury was from an unfortunate mishap and, before you know it, the authorities are involved and the “victim” is told that she/he is covering for a family member, etc. It’s a no-win situation when someone decides abuse occurred because denial is what they expect. Don’t make up a story, because that’s the very thing that can arouse suspicion. Facial injuries are the ones that tend to make people believe that abuse occurred.</p>
<p>Scanned posts. I broke my nose in medical school (intramural women’s football, other team a no show so we “gained up” on the two guys there to watch us and my nose got hit in the process) but never did anything about it- didn’t realize it was broken then. Fast forward 25 some years- my crooked nose led to surgery for an enlarged turbinate and blocked side of nose. Would have avoided a lot of trouble if I had taken care of it at the time of the injury. My advice- get it looked at, x-rayed if needed and taken care of now to avoid future problems. The old “ounce of prevention…”</p>