A bizarre nosebleed

  For a long time, Fang, who is over 70 years old, was so frightened by nasal bleeding that he could not even sleep at night, and had to rush to the hospital late at night to see the emergency room many times because of nasal bleeding. But patients who have seen the emergency room have experienced that as long as you bleed more, you almost always have to stop the bleeding with nasal plugs, which is actually a very helpless choice for both doctors and patients.  The experienced doctor confirmed that Fang’s rhinorrhea was due to a relatively rare disease called “hereditary hemorrhagic capillary dilation”. Smart readers will have noticed the lengthy name of the disease, which includes the word “hereditary”. Indeed, it is a dominantly inherited disease, often with a family history of easy bleeding. Most of these patients have rhinorrhea as the first symptom and are prone to recurrent rhinorrhea. Patients tend to develop the disease after middle age. Experienced otolaryngologists usually pay special attention to the presence of purple or bright red clustered dot-like changes in the mucous membranes of the face, hands, tongue and mouth, in addition to examining the nasal cavity and nasopharynx of the patient, and the diagnosis can be made according to their typical clinical features. Since the nasal mucosa, especially the nasal septum mucosa, is thin, the dilated capillaries often protrude from the mucosal surface and can easily rupture and bleed when the patient blows his nose, sneezes, or even rubs his nose, which can cause anemia, fatigue, and affect work and life. It is important to emphasize that rhinorrhea caused by hereditary hemorrhagic capillary dilation may be unilateral or bilateral, and the bleeding points may be multiple, which requires careful and comprehensive examination, so as not to miss any bleeding point.  Is there any cure for this annoying rhinorrhea? The answer is no. Some people abroad have reported good results with estrogen therapy. However, the side effects of the drug itself should not be underestimated, and the drug dosage, course of treatment, and discontinuation guidelines are further issues worth exploring. The author used endoscopic multi-point electrocoagulation to treat these patients in the clinic with good short-term efficacy. The overall effect is more satisfactory through regular follow-up for a long time and local cautery and mucosal protection treatment for the recurrence of bleeding points. Of course, Chinese medical treatment is also necessary, and the appropriate use of some Chinese herbal medicines, such as “Guixianwan”, can often promote the recovery of patients.