Fractures of the nose

[Britney]

The bones of the nose are broken more often than any other facial bone.

Typically, a broken (fractured) nose bleeds, hurts, and swells.
To diagnose a broken nose, a doctor looks at and feels the bridge of the nose.
Doctors sometimes need to push the broken pieces of bone back into place.

When nasal bones break, the mucous membrane lining the nose can tear, resulting in a nosebleed. Commonly, the bridge of the nose is pushed to one side. Sometimes the cartilage of the nasal septum (the rubbery tissue that divides the nasal cavity into two) can be pushed to one side. If blood collects under the membrane that lines the cartilage of the nasal septum (called septal hematoma), the cartilage may die. The dead cartilage may disintegrate, causing the bridge of the nose to sag in the middle (called saddle nose deformity).
Sometimes when a nose is broken, the bones that join the nose to the skull are damaged. This damage allows the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord (cerebrospinal fluid) to leak out. This damage can also allow bacteria from the nose to enter the space around the brain and spinal cord and cause a serious infection (meningitis).

[Dianne]

Fractures of the nasal bones or cartilaginous injury may result in swelling, point tenderness, hypermobility, crepitus, epistaxis, and periorbital bruising. Diagnosis is usually clinical. Treatment may include reduction, stabilization through internal packing, and splinting. A septal hematoma is drained without delay.
The nasal bones are the most frequently fractured facial bones because of their central location and protrusion. Depending on the mechanism of injury, fractures of the maxilla, orbit, or cribriform plate and injury to the nasolacrimal ducts may also occur.
Complications include cosmetic deformity and functional obstruction. Septal hematomas are subperichondrial blood collections that may lead to avascular or septic necrosis of the cartilage with resultant deformity (saddle nose). Cribriform plate fracture may cause a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, with increased risk of meningitis or brain abscess. Fortunately, this complication is rare.