Does Your Nose Have A Bone?

Introduction

Nose is the organ of smell. It plays a vital part in our body as well as our face. Yet, the nose is also an organ that brings uncomfortable and self-esteem feeling due to its various shapes and sizes. People who feel inferior because of their noses search for many solutions to fix their noses, from short-term makeup to long-term plastic surgery.

When it comes to plastic surgery, one questions pop up. Does your nose have a bone? If it does, how can plastic surgery changes your nose? If it doesn’t, how it is like to fix your nose?

In this article, all attention will go to answer the question “does your nose have a bone?”

What is nose and how does it function?

Nose is the most noticeable part of the face, where most sensory cells for smell occupy. Nose consists of nasal bone, cartilage and two nostrils. The septum separates the nasal passages and the nostrils. As you grow up, your body will develop nose hairs.

WHEN DOES YOUR NOSE STOP GROWING? Your nose will grow until the age of 14, and from puberty onwards, your nose will stop growing.   

Your nose is the passageway for the air to travel to your lungs. You get air by inhaling and release unwanted air by exhaling it out. When air gets in your nose, the mucous membrane warms and moistens the air before letting it go further.

The mucous membrane also produces mucus, which traps irritants such as dirt, pollen, germs and other tiny particles. Before that, the nose hairs have already filtered parts of the irritants and kept them around the nostrils. When the irritants become a threat, your nose will trigger a sneeze to push unwanted particles out.  

Thanks to your nose, you can smell the scent of roses or the burning meat in the oven. This wonder happens due to the olfactory epithelium in the nasal cavity behind your nose. There are about 10 million tiny receptors in the olfactory epithelium with hundreds of specialized ones that are sensitive to fixed odor molecules.

When the receptors sense the smell, a signal will be sent to the olfactory bulb; then it continues to travel to the brain where the signal is decoded as a smell you know.

What is surprising is your nose helps to recognize the taste as well. Do you notice every time you have a stuffy nose, you sense of taste also decreases? Together with the tongue, the nose plays a vital part in recognizing smell and taste of food.

Your nose has many wonderful uses; however, you may notice that it’s also vulnerable to damage.  Broken nose is one of the most common facial injuries in children and adults. [1] Here is when the question appears. How can your nose be broken if it does not have a bone? In other words, does your nose have a bone?

The following section will answer the question “does your nose have a bone.”

Does your nose have a bone?

So, does your nose have a bone? Why does it break so easy? To answer this question, you need to understand the structure of your nose. Your nose is supported by what’s called the nasal skeleton. The nasal skeleton consists of bone and cartilage that form the external nose and the internal nasal septum [2] . 

The external skeleton starts from the nasal cavities and forms the upper part of your nose. If you think your nose does not have a bone, then you are wrong. The bone part of the external skeleton is called the nasal bones, which are actually constituted from two bones similar in shape and size.

You can locate the nasal bones by pressing your finger against the upper and middle parts of your nose. You will feel the hard nasal bones. However, if you continue moving your finger down while pressing your nose, you will notice that the inferior part is not that hard anymore. In fact, it is quite flexible and soft. Does your nose have a bone in the inferior part?

As mentioned before, the nasal skeleton is formed of both bone and cartilage. There are no bones in the inferior part of the nose. The lower part of your nose consists of hyaline cartilage; lateral, major and minor alar; and the cartilaginous septum. [3] This part of the nose contributes mainly to the shape and size of your nose. Nasal fracture or broken nose is often in this area of the nose.

Does your nose have a bone? Yes, it does. Not only one but two bones joined together to form the nasal bones. It also has cartilage in the junior part of your nose [4].

Nasal Fracture

Nasal fracture or broken nose refers to a crack or break in the upper and lower parts of your nose. It means it could be your nasal bones and the cartilage that is broken.

Located in the sensitive part of the face, your nose is vulnerable to any physical attacks or accidents. The immediate symptoms of a broken nose include nosebleed, mild pain. In severe cases, your nose can totally shift from its original position. You will suffer from an acute nosebleed, blocked and unbreathable nostrils.

Who are the main targets of nasal fracture? Nasal fracture mostly happens among adults and teenagers who play sports such as hockey, football, boxing, martial arts, wrestling, mountain biking and so on. During car accidents, violence, face-on impact, your nose can also crack.     

How does Plastic surgery fix your broken nose?

If you suffer from a mild broken nose, all you need to do is to apply ice packs or head elevation for a few days and wait for the pain to go away. However, if the suffering is bigger than a nosebleed and mild pain, it’s time to seek for a serious alternative method. Luckily, nowadays we have plastic surgery as a quick method to fix broken nasal bone or cartilage.

First, your nose will be examined to locate the outer and inner injury such as septal hematoma. Septal hematoma refers to the accumulation of blood under the skin lining of the nasal septum. If the mass of blood is undiscovered, it will likely get infected and damage the septal cartilage and eventually cause saddle nose deformity [5]. 

Facial plastic surgeons will recommend using a closed nasal fracture reduction to fix your nose. The method to reduce the nasal bones is various; therefore each surgeon will explain and perform nasal surgery differently. Basically, the broken bones will be adjusted back in the right position.

The surgery only lasts for a few minutes, and you won’t feel any pains at all during the procedure. Once your nasal bones are fixed, you need a few weeks to recover.   

What else plastic surgery can do to your nose?

Many people are unhappy with their noses. The shape and size of the nose sometimes determine how one should look. Therefore, having a nose surgery has become popular lately due to its instant effect on your face. Nose surgery can help make your nose smaller and in the right shape.

There are 6 different nose shapes, and each of them causes a certain level of discomfort: greek, nubian, roman, snub, turn-up and hawk shapes. Ever wonder about the nose shapes and whether if your weight affects the shape and size of your nose? Let’s find out it in DOES YOUR NOSE GET BIGGER WHEN YOU GAIN WEIGHT?

If you are interested in some fun facts about nose, find more information on this article DOES PICKING YOUR NOSE MAKE IT BIGGER?

Before undergoing a nose surgery, you have to make sure your body and current health condition are suitable for this kind of medical treatment. Your surgeon will provide a list of questions on which you have to give details about last surgeries, allergies, and medications. Then you will be given a treatment plan including how the surgery will look like, and the expecting result of the surgery, your financial investment, what to prepare and what to do after the surgery.   

Normally, your surgeon will ask you to stop smoking at least 6 weeks before the surgery to make sure your health is in good condition. You are not allowed to take any aspirin, medications or herbal medicine that can stimulate bleeding. Hydration is a must before and after the surgery.

Each person has his or her own time frame to recover. Your surgeon will discuss in detail with you before the surgery. However, it’s essential to avoid certain exercises and activities in the first several weeks until your new bone or cartilage is ready.    

Other methods to reshape your nose

Makeup

While surgery is costly and complicated in procedures, makeup costs less money and can absolutely reshape your nose. All you have to do is to purchase a proper contour and highlighter.

Contour and highlighter don’t make your nose smaller physically; however, they make your nose look smaller, depending on how and where you use them. Using contour and highlighter darker than your normal skin tone will make its effect better.

For detailed instruction, please follow the article BEST WAYS ON HOW TO MAKE YOUR NOSE SMALLER.

Exercises

The slimmer nose can be achieved through simple exercises. It sounds weird and unbelievable, but it actually works. Daily exercises will not only help reshape your nose but also enhance the functions of the nose.

There are several different exercises for your nose such as nose shaping, nose straightening, breathing technique, nose massaging.   

If you want to find out more about alternative methods to make your nose smaller, then HOW TO MAKE YOUR NOSE SMALLER WITHOUT MAKEUP OR SURGERY will be helpful.

Bottom Line

So after this article, you can answer the question “does your nose have a bone.” It’s important to avoid certain physical collision since your nasal bone and cartilages are quite easy to broke. Modern techniques can help fix nasal fracture and reshape your nose size and shape as you wish.

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