[Clinical and anatomical characteristic of nasal injuries].

A fracture of nasal bones is becoming a very common injury due to the increasingly greater number of car accidents and aggravated criminal situation. A total of 500 cases of nasal fracture associated with external deformities were included in the present study. The following kinds of deformities were identified: unilateral retraction, lateral displacement of the entire dorsum of the nose, and depressed comminuted fracture. Rhinoscopy revealed in addition such abnormalities associated with septal fracture as submucous hemorrhage, pathological mobility of the pyramid, deflection of the nasal septum at an acute angle. All in all, four types of nasal septum fractures were distinguished depending on the shape and localization of the fracture line. Two of them resulted in marked impairment of nasal breathing while two others required surgical intervention in the acute period after the injury.