Can rhinitis cause loss of sense of smell?

When a patient develops a condition of rhinitis, it may result in a loss of the sense of smell. Patients may experience a certain degree of congestion, swelling or edema of the nasal mucosa due to inflammatory infectious disease factors in the nasal cavity, or allergic disease factors, which may hinder the uploading of odor particles. The difficulty in perceiving the presence of odor particles in the olfactory mucosa area may cause a certain degree of hyposmia or even lead to almost complete loss of the sense of smell. Some patients may further develop significant deviation of the nasal septum, resulting in narrowing of the nasal tract, or the development of polyps, papillomas and other growths in the nasal cavity, which also tend to cause a more severe decrease in the sense of smell.