ABSCESS OF THE FALSE NOSTRIL OR TURBINATED BONES.
Structure of turbinated bones: suppuration or abscess, obstructed breathing, treatment, puncture, plugging, injection, trephining.
The turbinated bones are two fragile bony structures attached to the outer wall of each nasal chamber. The posterior half of each bone closes the corresponding nasal sinuse; the anterior half is rolled upon itself as a sheet of paper might be, and is accordingly open along one side. In this latter a collection of pus may result from severe inflammatory action and the resulting discharge may become somewhat chronic. The flow is greatest after the nose has been raised, from the pus having previously gravitated into a sac in the lower end of the bone. The pus may moreover pass backward into the larnyx from the raising of the head and induce a violent fit of coughing. Sometimes the inflammation has extended to the bones covering the nose which are bulging and tender. The thin turbinated bone gives way under the distension, bulges into the nose, and often stops the passage of air through that side. This symptom and the appearance of the swelling cause a close approximation in symptoms to nasal polypus. The facts that it supervened on a severe coryza, that it fluctuates on pressure if within reach of the finger, and that pus escapes when it is punctured, exclude the idea of polypus.
Treatment. Puncture of the abscess inside the nose, plugging and daily astringent injections will usually rapidly cure. Gamgee, Jessen and others, recommend trephining of the bone above the nose and washing it out daily, adding that an extensive removal of the bone will correct any existing bulging and deformity.