How do you get nose bleeds

Nosebleed causes & treatments | NHS inform

Most nosebleeds can be stopped without the need for medical attention, but occasionally further treatment may be required.

What to do

To stop a nosebleed:

• sit down and firmly pinch the soft part of your nose, just above your nostrils, for at least 10-15 minutes
• lean forward and breathe through your mouth – this will drain blood into your nose instead of down the back of your throat
• place an ice pack or bag of frozen vegetables covered by a towel on the bridge of your nose
• stay upright, rather than lying down as this reduces the blood pressure in the blood vessels of your nose and will discourage further bleeding

If the bleeding eventually stops, you won't usually need to seek medical advice. However, you should still follow the recovery advice outlined below.

When to seek medical advice

Contact your GP or call the NHS 111 service if:

• you're taking a blood-thinning medicine (anticoagulant) such as warfarin or have a clotting disorder such as haemophilia and the bleeding doesn't stop
• you have symptoms of anaemia such as heart palpitations, shortness of breath and a pale complexion
• a child under two years of age has a nosebleed (this is rare and there's a chance it's caused by something serious)
• you have nosebleeds that come and go regularly

Ask someone to drive you to your nearest accident and emergency (A&E) department or call 999 for an ambulance if:

• the bleeding continues for longer than 20 minutes
• the bleeding is heavy and you've lost a lot of blood
• you're having difficulty breathing
• you swallow a large amount of blood that makes you vomit
• the nosebleed developed after a serious injury, such as a car crash

Find your nearest A&E department

Medical treatment

If you see your GP or go to hospital with a nosebleed, you will be assessed to determine how serious your condition is and what's likely to have caused it. This may involve looking inside your nose, measuring your pulse and blood pressure, carrying out blood tests and asking about any other symptoms you have.

The main treatments that your GP or hospital doctor may use to stop your nose bleeding are described below.

Antibiotic ointment

Your doctor may prescribe an antibiotic ointment. This should be applied by squeezing a pea-sized amount onto the front of the nasal septum (wall between the nostrils).

This can reduce the inflammation and crusting in the nose and reduce the severity and frequency of nosebleeds.

Antibiotic ointment is particularly effective in children.

Cautery

If your doctor is able to identify exactly where the bleeding is coming from, they may carry out a minor procedure to seal the bleeding blood vessel by cauterising (burning) it.

This is normally done using a stick of a chemical called silver nitrate. A local anaesthetic will be sprayed into your nose to numb it and the silver nitrate stick will be held against the bleeding point for up to 10 seconds.

Nasal packing

If cautery is ineffective or your doctor is unable to identify a specific bleeding point, they may recommend packing your nose with gauze or special nasal sponges to stop the flow of blood by applying pressure to the source of the bleeding.

Packing will usually be carried out after local anaesthetic has been sprayed into your nose. The gauze or sponges often need to be left in place for 24-48 hours before being removed by a health professional. You'll usually need to be admitted to hospital to be monitored during this time.

Further treatment

If the treatments above don't help, you may be referred to a hospital specialist such as an ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor for further treatment.

Additional treatments that may be used in hospital include:

• electrocautery – an electric current running through a wire is used to cauterise the blood vessel where the bleeding is coming from
• blood transfusions – a procedure to replace the blood you've lost
• tranexamic acid – medication that can reduce bleeding by helping your blood to clot
• packing under anaesthetic – your nose is carefully packed with gauze while you are unconscious from general anaesthetic
• ligation – an operation using small instruments to tie off bleeding blood vessels in the back of your nose

Recovery

Once your nose has stopped bleeding, you should follow the advice below to reduce the risk of your nose bleeding again and to stop you picking up an infection:

• avoid blowing or picking your nose, heavy lifting, strenuous exercise, lying flat, and drinking alcohol or hot drinks for 24 hours
• don't remove any crusts that form inside your nose – these may be unpleasant, but they're a useful part of the healing process
• if you need to sneeze, try to sneeze with your mouth open to reduce the pressure in your nose
• avoid people with coughs and colds

If you see a GP or a hospital doctor about your nosebleed, they may give you a prescription for an antiseptic nasal cream once the bleeding stops. This should be applied to the inside of your nostrils several times a day for up to two weeks to help prevent further bleeding.

If your nose does start to bleed again, follow the first aid advice above and seek medical advice if the bleeding doesn't stop.

How To Stop & Prevent Nosebleeds

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Medically Reviewed by Poonam Sachdev on October 19, 2021

In this Article

• Why Is My Nose Bleeding?
• How Do I Stop My Nosebleed?
• How to Prevent Nosebleeds

Why Is My Nose Bleeding?

Several things can trigger a nosebleed. The most common cause is dry air, either from having the heat on in winter or being in a hot, low-humidity climate. Other causes include:

• Picking your nose
• Blowing your nose too hard often
• Injuries caused by a fall or getting hit in your nose
• Side effects of medication, like blood thinners
• Allergies
• High altitudes, where the air is thin

How Do I Stop My Nosebleed?

Nosebleeds usually aren’t serious. You can treat most by yourself at home by doing the following:

• Stay calm. If you start to get nervous, it can actually make you bleed more. Try to relax.
• Sit up, don’t lie down. Keep your head above your heart.
• Lean a little bit forward. This keeps the blood from draining down the back of your throat.
• Pinch your nostrils closed. Use your thumb and index finger to hold your nostrils closed for 5 to 10 minutes while you breathe through your mouth. This puts pressure on the part of your nose that’s bleeding and can make the blood stop flowing.

Once the bleeding has stopped, do not touch or blow your nose. This may start it bleeding again. But if it does restart, gently blow your nose to get rid of any blood clots. You can also spray a decongestant such as oxymetazoline (Afrin, Mucinex, or Vicks Sinex) in both nostrils. Then pinch your nostrils shut and breathe through your mouth for 5 to 10 minutes.

Call your doctor if:

• You fell or hit your nose on something
• You get nosebleeds often
• Your nosebleed lasts longer than 20 minutes even after you put pressure on it
• There’s so much bleeding that it’s hard to breathe.
• You’re taking blood thinners, such as warfarin (Coumadin), dabigatran (Pradaxa), rivaroxaban (Xarelto), fondaparinux sodium (Arixtra), or aspirin, or you have a bleeding disorder.

If your doctor can’t get your nosebleed to stop with pressure, they might try:

Cauterization.This procedure burns a blood vessel closed. After your doctor numbs your nose, they’ll use either a heated electronic device (an electrocautery) or a chemical called silver nitrate to close the leaky blood vessel.

Packing.Your doctor puts a latex balloon or gauze into your nostril. This puts a lot of pressure on a blood vessel until it closes.

How to Prevent Nosebleeds

You can’t always prevent nosebleeds from happening, but there are certain things you can do to help lower your chances of getting them:

• Keep the inside of your nose moist. Dryness can cause nosebleeds. Use a cotton swab to gently smear a thin layer petroleum jelly in your nostrils three times a day, including before you go to sleep. You can also use an antibiotic ointment like Bacitracin or Polysporin.
• Use a saline nasal product. Spraying it in your nostrils helps keep the inside of your nose moist.
• Use a humidifier. Your nostrils might be dry because the air in your house is dry.
• Don’t smoke.Smoking can irritate the inside of your nose and dry it out.
• Don’t pick your nose. Also, don’t blow or rub it too hard. If your child is getting nosebleeds, keep their fingernails short and discourage them from picking their nose.
• Don’t use cold and allergy medications too often. These can dry out your nose. In some cases, certain medications can cause nosebleeds or make them worse. You may need to discuss your medications with your doctor. But keep taking them unless your doctor tells you to stop.

Frequent nosebleeds: what are the causes and what to do?

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Bleeding from the nose due to trauma usually does not raise questions, but if it occurs without any mechanical impact, and even more often, this should alert

What can be the causes of frequent nosebleeds and how they can be cured - tells otorhinolaryngologist of the clinic "Semeynaya" Olga Pavlovna Soloshenko.

If the bleeding does not occur due to injuries and recurs periodically, it is better not to delay the visit to the ENT. After all, bleeding can be anterior and posterior - the second happens less often, but it is much more dangerous. With anterior bleeding, blood only goes out, with posterior bleeding, it flows into the mouth or stomach along the back of the pharynx. Posterior is usually caused by damage to larger vessels that are located deep in the nasal cavity. It is very difficult to stop back bleeding without a doctor.

Causes of nosebleeds:

• Injuries. Injury to the nose is often fraught with cartilage fractures. As a rule, this is accompanied by swelling and pain.
• High blood pressure. Very common cause. Due to a sharp jump, the walls of the capillaries easily burst. Pressure rises due to overload, as well as in the presence of diseases of the cardiovascular system.
• Sunstroke and any sudden increase in body temperature.
• Overwork.
• Hormonal changes. Bleeding may occur in women during the months of pregnancy or menopause, and in adolescents at puberty.
• Dry air. It causes dryness of the mucous membrane.
• Poor blood clotting.
• ENT diseases. Sinusitis, sinusitis, rhinitis - all of them can cause bleeding, especially with the constant use of drugs that thin the mucous membrane.
• Vascular problems. Even infectious diseases such as chickenpox, measles, influenza, etc. can lead to them.
• Polyps, adenoids, tumors. In addition to occasional bleeding, they simply make breathing difficult.
• Foreign body - can damage the mucous membranes and blood vessels.
• Deficiency of vitamins K, C and calcium.

First aid rules for nosebleeds:

• Lie down (or position the patient) with legs down
• Tilt head forward
• Place a cold compress on the bridge of the nose for a few minutes
• Cover nose with hand or insert swab pre-soaked in hydrogen peroxide
• Drops for vasoconstriction can be instilled

Attention, this must not be done!

• Throwing the head back (contrary to popular belief) - blood can enter the respiratory tract
• Blow your nose - so as not to increase bleeding without it.

Which cases require an immediate call to a doctor and an ambulance

• In case of loss of consciousness
• For excessive bleeding
• Blood flows with clear fluid (this may occur after trauma and indicate a skull fracture)
• If vomiting of blood occurs (possibly indicating bleeding in the esophagus or stomach)
• Foamy blood (possible with lung injury)
• In a patient with diabetes mellitus
• If the patient is known to have poor blood clotting

Treatment

Treatment of bleeding is carried out in a complex manner. Often, an otorhinolaryngologist works in conjunction with a general practitioner, neurologist, endocrinologist, and hematologist.

At the first examination, the doctor determines the type of bleeding - anterior or posterior. Also, the patient is required to pass a general blood test and a coagulogram (analysis of blood coagulation indicators). In addition, it is important to measure the pressure, because if it is above the norm (the absolute norm is 120/80 mm Hg, but these figures change depending on age), the blood will not stop until it decreases.

In case of significant blood loss, the patient may be left in the hospital.

As a treatment for bleeding, it is possible to pack the nasal cavity, cauterize vessels (with drugs, laser, ultrasound, etc.), remove polyps. If there is no result, surgical ligation of vessels in problem areas is performed. In addition, drugs are prescribed that increase blood clotting.

Prevention

• Taking drugs that strengthen the walls of blood vessels
• Nutrition rich in vitamins and minerals
• Air humidification during the heating season
• Injury Prevention
• Monitoring blood pressure and taking medications to lower it

Nosebleeds are not only unpleasant, but also dangerous. Therefore, as soon as it begins to bother you regularly, it is important to see a doctor as soon as possible. It is better to exclude all the most terrible causes of such a phenomenon as soon as possible and then it is already calmer to engage in further treatment.

Make an appointment with an otolaryngologist

Be sure to consult a qualified specialist in the field of nose diseases at the Semeynaya clinic.

For prices for pediatric appointments or other questions, follow the link below

Tags OtolaryngologistTherapist

Why does the nose bleed? — GAUZ OZP City Clinical Hospital No. 8

• Post author: Press Secretary
• Entry published: 07/24/2019
• Post category: Prevention