The correlation between permanent septal deformities and nasal trauma during birth.

Both the outer and inner nose as well as the position of the parietal bones of 972 patients at an age of 3 to 82, were examined giving evidence of the configuration of the infant's head at birth and thereby of the "severity" of the birth. In comparison with the sectio-patients the configuration of the infant's head in the birth canal reveals statistically recorded deformations of the outer and inner nose with an obstruction of the nasal breathing in 20% of the patients examined. The degree of the configuration has a definite influence on the degree of the nose deformation. The adjustment of the rotary direction of the infant's head in the 1st and 2nd vertex presentation determines the direction of the nose deformation. The demand of many authors for an immediate rhinological examination and corrections in the newborn child, for instance on the septum, to be performed still in the obstetrical department, must due to our own examinations be advocated.