Broken nose — advice after a nasal injury
How to care for an injured nose, and what to look out for as it heals.
You have a broken or injured nose. Most heal well without any treatment. Swelling can hide the true shape at first, so any reshaping is decided after the swelling settles — usually reviewed within about a week.
Your care details
To be completed by the team before you leave.
These need an ambulance.
- A nosebleed you cannot stop after two attempts at 15 minutes of firm pressure
- Trouble breathing, or you feel faint and unwell
- Clear, watery fluid dripping steadily from the nose after the injury
- You were knocked out, or are confused or very drowsy after the injury
Come back to the ED or contact the ENT service named above the same day.
- Your nose becomes completely blocked on one or both sides and you cannot breathe through it
- The blockage came on over hours after the injury, rather than straight away
- Increasing pain and pressure inside the nose
- Spreading redness, swelling, or a fever
- Your nose still looks bent once the swelling has gone down
A blood clot can form on the wall between the two nostrils in the hours after a broken nose. It needs draining quickly, because left alone it can permanently damage the shape of the nose. You do not need to examine yourself or work out what it is. What matters is this: if your nose becomes newly blocked, and especially if the blockage is getting worse rather than better, get it looked at the same day. The shape of the nose is a separate question. Swelling takes about a week to settle, so any decision about straightening the nose is usually made after that — the timing and the route for this are written in Your care details above.
Caring for it
- Hold a wrapped ice pack on the nose for swelling in the first day or two.
- Sleep propped up on pillows to ease swelling.
- Take paracetamol or ibuprofen for pain if you can take them.
- Do not try to straighten the nose yourself.
- Avoid contact sport for about 6 weeks.
- If it bleeds, lean forward and pinch the soft part for 10–15 minutes.
Follow-up
If the nose looks bent once the swelling settles, it can often be straightened — but this is usually done within 2 weeks of the injury. So please keep any ENT or clinic appointment you are given, to have your nose reassessed in good time.