Acute hemorrhage from the nostril, nasal cavity, or nasopharynx (nose-bleed).
Hemorrhage from the nose; a nosebleed.
Bleeding from the nose; causes include a blow or other injury, violent sneezing, high blood pressure, and fragile mucous membranes. The bleeding may be controlled by applying pressure to the sides of the nose, by inserting cotton or gauze, or by holding an ice compress over the nose.
Nose-bleeding, nasal hemorrhage. In the majority of cases nose-bleeding is due to a small ulcer on the fore part of the nasal septum and is frequently associated with nose-picking—the septum is the dividing wall between the nostrils and is generously supplied with blood vessels. The first aid treatment is simple enough: the patient should be made to sit up, bend slightly forward, and breathe through the mouth while the person giving first aid pinches the nostrils together for five or ten minutes—this usually stops the bleeding and clots up the ulcer. If this treatment fails, then a doctor may have to pack the nose with ribbon gauze soaked in adrenalin, which contracts the blood vessels and stops the bleeding by pressure. Very severe bleeding, fortunately rare, has to be treated by an electric cautery. The old-fashioned belief that a nosebleed was “good for you” is a survival of the days when practically the only treatment was bloodletting. Nose-bleeding does you neither good nor much harm, since the quantity of blood lost is so small, and by far the biggest factor in any nosebleed is the panic it engenders either in the patient or among the relatives. Also called rhinorrhagia.