Epistaxis (Nose bleeds) from sinusitis

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Dr Dennis Chua is one of the accredited ent specialist in Singapore that commonly sees patients with epistaxis or nosebleeds.

Most nose bleeds are from the front of a nose from an area known as Little’s area. This is frequently a result of nasal trauma from nose picking or rubbing of the nose. As this is a highly vascular area, bleeding can sometimes be torrential. Find out more about epistaxis here https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/13464-nosebleed-epistaxis.

It is important to apply simple first aid measures during an episode of bleeding:

1. Pinching the soft part of the nose and tilting the head forward. (Tilting the head backwards may result in the individual choking on the blood)
2. Sucking on ice chips and putting an ice pack over the nose
3. Most bleeding resolve after 5-10 minutes. For persistent bleeding, you will need to head to the emergency department where they will usually call on the ENT specialist to treat you further.

Sometimes we can:

1. Apply silver nitrate (cautery) to the bleeding point to help stop the bleeding.
2. Packing of the nose can be done to tamponade the bleeding point and apply pressure over it to stop bleeding.
3. If there are signs of sinusitis, patient will need to be treated with antibiotics for this.
4. For complicated types of nose bleeding from infection or tumors, the patient may require further investigations such as an imaging scan or biopsy.

If you have issues with epistaxis, consider visiting Dr. Dennis Chua.

Please see https://drdennischua.com/nose-sinus-conditions for more details.

Picture below shows a bleeding point on the right middle turbinate within the nose. This was cauterized to stop the bleeding.

ENT Specialist

Dr Dennis Chua