1. < Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT)

Nose cartilage pain, no redness or swelling

Posted by John02445 @john02445, Jul 23, 2017

Hello. About five days ago, in the middle of the afternoon, I suddenly had pain on the lower right side of my nose. if I didn't touch this area, the pain was about a 2 out of 10, but when I would press the outside of my nose at all the pain would increase to around a 6 out of 10. I had no redness or swelling, no nasal drip, and no pain across the bridge of my nose. This pain decreased the next morning and was gone by the end of that night, without any medication.

Today, I woke up with sinus drip, though that is now gone by the evening as I type this. However, beginning a few hours ago, I now have similar pain to what I had five days go. The difference now is that it's only located on the lower left side of my nose. Again, there is no redness, no swelling and no pain around the bridge of my nose. The other difference is that today is more painful than five days ago (5 out of 10 when not touched, around an 8 when touched).

I am in good health otherwise and am not on any medications. I keep trying to search to see what I may have, but everyone I find who describes this type of pain also mentions having swelling and/or redness, which I do not have. My only change in behavior is recently I have started to use a shampoo with tea tree oil in it, which shouldn't trigger this type of response (so far as I can find).

My PCP is on vacation this week and the other doctor in his office is not someone I have had positive experiences with, to put it mildly. Any insights or recaps of similar incidents are appreciated.

Thanks!!

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badbeaver63 | @badbeaver63 | May 28, 2021

I have suffered with herpes simplex, (cold sores on my lips) for 40 years, periodically when I'm more acidic than alkaline.
I treat it with lysine and prescription cream.
But this last year and a half I also at times get a cold sore inside my nose at the tip area.
I found your conversation tonight because the tip of my nose is sore to the touch. So I might put cream in that area w a q-tip. The ointment is: Acyclovir 5%.
Hope this helps you too.
Last time I had this issue, it went away.
If it doesn't help me, I'll try the tea tree oil.
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lynniecat | @lynniecat | May 28, 2021

Aside from acyclovir - abreva is the only thing that has helped me - and it really helps. You have to use it immediately.

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sush1009 | @sush1009 | Sep 26, 2022

I have a similar condition.
A month ago, when I was touching the end of my nose on the RHS, there was a stabbing pain somewhere deeper inside the nasal area. I have consulted 2 doctors so far.
One of the doctors had suggested this was a sinus infection and put me on Augmentin, which reduced the pain, but it was not gone totally.
The other doc felt its a tear duct infection and put me on Augmentin + Ciprafloxacin eye drops - which did totally eleminate the pain.
But the pain has come back again - within 2 weeks of stopping the meds.
Am at my wits end, coz if I touch my nose end inadvertently there's that stabbing pain somewhere deep inside !

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smithakar | @smithakar | Jun 4, 2023
In reply to @mateen "Is your nose pain issue resolved, is yes then pls tell me how it went away..." + (show)
@mateen

Is your nose pain issue resolved, is yes then pls tell me how it went away and how long it stayed as I am also having exactly same pain near my nose bridge, no swelling no redness and nothing can be seen in ct scan

Jump to this post

Hello I have the same symptoms as you did you ever figure out what this was I am desperate

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smithakar | @smithakar | Jun 4, 2023
In reply to @johnhudson922 "Hi guys, I think i'm in something of a similar situation here. In June 2019 I..." + (show)
@johnhudson922

Hi guys, I think i'm in something of a similar situation here.

In June 2019 I began feeling pain in my nose what I assumed was Sinus pain. I didn't do much until a month later in July when I went to an urgent care and they said "yeah probably sinus infection" and I got what I think was a round of antibiotics and probably a steroid. That didn't end up doing anything, and the pain got steadily worse. I did basically the same thing a month later with a different urgent care, and in Sept i finally went to an ENT. They looked at it and said "doesn't look like much, take a Zyrtec, flush with this saline solution, use some sprays, etc". I did that for a few weeks with no results. I also got a Vicks steam making thing and religiously steamed my sinuses. While that was better than nothing, it had no lasting impact, leading me to believe that it wasn't related to dryness.

After another visit with that ENT, I visited the Ohio Sinus Institute in Dublin, OH. They seemed to be a reputable place to go for what I was experiencing. The Dr. Boris Karanfilov immediately did a CT scan and walked me through it showing me that i didn't have any congested passages, etc. Nothing visible that he noticed. He then ordered an MRI which I did and that also didn't show anything.

I also went to an allergist who ruled out any obvious allergies that could be causing my pain. My PCP suggested I ask for a scope, but the Sinus doc said there would be no point as he has already seen enough from the CT scan and MRI (So I haven't had a scope yet). The Sinus doc suggested going to a Neurologist, but I haven't at this point yet either.

My primary symptoms are pain on what feels like more of the outside of the bridge of my nose than anything. I have no real congestion, no drip, no redness or swelling, just pain that feels like almost a sunburn at times, sometimes tingly, and if anything i'd say its coming from the cartilege itself, not my "sinuses" internally. It is not 100% constant, and I even had a few weeks in January where I thought it might have gone away. My wife thinks that it is sort of created by my brain - Mind Body syndrome, Dr. Cerner, that kind of thing. Maybe stress related, etc?

Here's a few other things I am suspicious of that i'd like to get ruled out:

nasal Sarcoidosis
Relapsing Polychondritis
Multiple sclerosis
Nasal furunculosis
nasl staph infection.

I'd love to hear anyone elses thoughts about what I might have and what I should ask my doctors to look at. I'm not above going to the Mayo clinic, but as I'm in Ohio, Cleveland Clinic might happen first 😉

Thanks!

Jump to this post

Hello did you ever figure out what you have wrong? I have similar symptoms and I’ve been in pain for so long I’m desperate for answers.

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smithakar | @smithakar | Jun 4, 2023
In reply to @johnhudson922 "The sinus pain relief device doesn't appear to do anything. Maybe if I try really hard..." + (show)
@johnhudson922

The sinus pain relief device doesn't appear to do anything. Maybe if I try really hard i can feel some kind of electrical pulse, but it doesn't take any pain away. I probably don't believe in it enough.

After that, I saw a Rhinologist at Ohio State - Dr. Otto. He did a scope and i wanted him to rule out something like turbinate squeeze syndrome or contact pain. He more or less said that he didn't see anything wrong with my sinuses or nose either. He wasn't able to view my previous CT scan though which was dissappointing. He suggested that my issues are headache related and said I should see a Neurologist.

I had a video consultation with a Neurologist a few weeks ago. To save myself the time of typing it out, it was unremarkable and predictable. She prescribed me some kind of anti seizure medicine which i havn't started yet because the side effects are in my experience also pretty rough.

At this point we are pursuing some dietary changes. I have a lot of digestion and stomach issues lately and there could be some possibility that gluten or caffeine plays some role.

I am also pursuing a lead about wisdom teeth creating sinus pain.

So that's where i'm at. Still in pain. Still looking for answers. Still mostly being given the runaround by Doctors.

Jump to this post

Hello did you ever figure out what’s wrong? I have similar symptoms and I’m in pain & desperate for answers

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consekaus | @consekaus | Jan 18 11:30am

Jan. 18, 2024. Center nose cartilage hurts for past two days. No injury to it. Nose has begun to be runny today.

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lory10 | @lory10 | Jun 30 1:25pm

My nose pain started on the left side of my septum close to the front about a month and a half ago. I assumed it was a pimple and didn't see a doctor until three weeks later because the pain was growing towards the bridge of my nose, but there was no swelling or redness. Over the next month I saw some urgent care doctors and some doctors in my provider's office and no one knew what it was. I had two courses of antibiotics, but no scans, and eventually the pain grew smaller, until only the tip hurt again, and now that is almost gone. I read all of the comments in this thread and learned a lot about the inside of my nose. I believe my problem was nerve related, because during the period when I took antibiotics, I felt huge tingling in my nose, almost like tiny explosions, which I'm not sure was related to the antibiotics, but eventually it became tingling, only now and then, not all the time, and now it's just once in a while. So I believe it is the nerve regenerating. As to what caused all this in the beginning, I do remember hitting my nose pretty hard when I was moving and carrying things and something fell back on my face and hit my nose pretty hard, but it only hurt for a minute, like stubbing your toe, and then I forgot about it. I don't know how long it was before I felt like I had a pimple in my nose, but I didn't put the two together so it could have been very soon. I have an appointment with my doctor next week for a physical so I'll run this by her and see what she thinks, but learning from the people on this thread who posted about the trigeminal nerve and given that it runs right down the nose and my cartilage was sore for a while, I'm pretty sure this is what happened to me. Thank you.

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