NASAL HYGIENE

Evening Star, Issue 22619, 10 April 1937, Page 21

NASAL HYGIENE

IMPORTANCE TO HEALTH Probably less attention is paid to the nose than to most organs, but not many are more important for the wellbeing and physical fitness of the human* body (writes the medical correspondent of the ‘Daily Telegraph ’). It is, or should be through the nose that the air essential for life is inhaled*, and the normal healthy nose is admin* ably adapted for that purpose. Its corrugated bony walls and aocessory cavities are lined with a sensitive mucous membrane, plentifully supplied with blood vessels, which provide a relatively large vestibule in which the entering air is both warmed, and to a certain extent filtered before its passage to the lungs. Considerable areas of the mncoui lining of the nose _ are provided with tiny tentacles or cilia that can prevent! the passage of undesirable particles,, and the whole cavity has a secondary importance in forming a resonator for the utterance of sound. It also con* tains the nerves for smelling. Behind the nose are also certain col* lections of lymphoid tissue, which pro* bably play, especiallv in youth, a significant part in guarding the body from air-borne infection, and it is significant that every new-born baby is al natural and instinctively determined nose-breather. THREAT TO HEALTH. Any obstruction to the normal pas* sage of air through the nose is, there* fore, in some degree a threat to health* P.robably the commonest is caused bj| the undue enlargement, sometimes result of chronic sepsis, of the patched of lymphoid tissue referred to—com* monly known as adenoids. The presence of these may even con* vert a child or adolescent into a mouthbreather and therefore make him mo-ra liable to catarrhal and other infections,. In such cases the removal of these adenoids by skilled hands is indicated and generally results in improved healthl and appearance. Another common form of obstruction is due to the over-development of soma of the corrugated bones forming tha wall of the nose, or of some deviation of the septum or dividing wall between the two nostrils- In these cases one op other side of the nose, or occasionally both, may be partially or wholly blocked. Here again the greatly improved technique of modern nasal surgery can generally effect a cure. A persistent one-sided discharge should also suggest expert inquiry, ad this may mean an infection of one of the accessory chambers of the nosa above or below the bony sockets of th« eye. •