Definition
1. Blood between septal cartilage and mucoperichondrium
Cause
1. Nasal trauma
2. Nasal Fracture
Signs
1. Soft, fluctuant swelling of septum
2. Bilateral is most common
Management: General
1. Urgent referral to otolaryngology
2. Drainage should be done as soon as possible
  1. Within hours of onset is preferred
Management: Incision and Drainage
1. Topical anesthetic
2. Needle Aspiration or Incision and Drainage
3. Bilateral Nasal Packing for several days
  1. Packing should contain anti-staphylococcal antibiotic
4. Consider prophylactic antibiotics
Complications
1. Infected septal hematoma
2. Saddle nose deformity
  1. Results from infection and septal cartilage necrosis

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 5/16/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.