Coke Nose: Cocaine’s Effects On The Nose

What Is Coke Nose?

Depending on how cocaine is consumed, it can have varying effects on one’s nose. Coke nose is a colloquial term that refers to the nasal damage caused by prolonged cocaine use.

Damage can range from mild to severe, leading to conditions such as a deviated septum, a perforated septum (hole in the nose from coke), or saddle nose deformity. People who inhale its vapors (known as freebasing) or snort cocaine through their nose put themselves at risk for the following conditions.

Deviated Septum

A deviated septum occurs when the tissue separating a person’s two nasal canals becomes out of line, leaning to one side and potentially causing obstruction. This can result from swelling, scarring, a foreign object inserted in the nose, injury, or a person may be born with it.

Cocaine use often leads to nasal inflammation or other nasal trauma, which may cause enough swelling or scarring to deviate one’s septum.

Cocaine Nosebleed

Cocaine use can irritate the mucosal lining inside the nose, causing frequent nosebleeds. This bleeding could result from direct damage to inner walls, increased irritation due to increased nasal secretions, greater sensitivity from chronic inflammation, or a combination of the three.

Continued cocaine use can worsen these factors, leading to ongoing nose bleeds or worse complications.

Cocaine Nose Hole

The cocaine nose hole refers to the perforation of the nasal septum, the tissue that separates the two nostrils inside a person’s nose.

Over time, snorting cocaine can cause tissue damage that leads to a cocaine nose hole (perforated septum).

Saddle Nose

A saddle nose deformity refers to the widening and flattening of the nose resulting from a loss of nasal septum support. This can result from trauma, infection, toxic exposure, or surgical influence that weakens or damages the septum, increasing the risk of collapse. Saddle nose deformities are classified by three stages of severity, all of which can be fixed with surgery.

Sinus Infections

Sinus infections commonly occur in people who suffer nasal damage from chronic nasal insufflation (snorting) of cocaine. They are often recurrent and painful, particularly in those who have nasal perforations with or without palatal perforation (a hole formed between the roof of the mouth and the nasal cavity from cocaine use).

Chronic irritation and other damages allow bacteria or fungus to colonize the sinuses, which can be serious, as some bacterial or fungal infections can increase tissue loss and deformities and lead to life-threatening infections.

If you think you may have chronic sinus infections caused by cocaine use, it is important to be evaluated by a doctor and, if possible, begin treatment.

Palatal Perforation

Just as chronic cocaine use can lead to septal perforations in the nose, it can also lead to perforation in the oral palate. This hole creates an opening between the mouth and nasal cavity, allowing food or drink to leak in. The nasal cavity is not designed to pass food and drink, so food remnants often get stuck in the sinuses and can contribute to sinus infections and other problems.

Why Do These Injuries Occur?

Injuries to the nose occur both as a result of cocaine’s effect on blood vessels and surrounding tissues and frequent contact with contaminants or bacteria mixed into the cocaine sample.

Among its other effects, cocaine causes blood vessels to shrink in diameter (vasoconstriction), which is responsible for a number of the adverse impacts on a person’s nose with chronic use. Sometimes, the vessels can shrink so much that that tissue no longer has adequate blood supply, causing the tissue to die and leading to holes in the nasal septum and oral palate.

Even if the blood flow does not slow enough to kill the tissue, it may not be enough to adequately fight off bacteria, heal wounds, or resolve inflammation. In addition to the conditions listed, a person may experience loss of smell from nasal tissue damage. These same effects can occur throughout the body and damage the GI tract, cardiovascular system, brain, and other systems.

Injuries such as saddle nose deformity may result after years of worsening septal perforation, leading to reduced nasal bridge support and eventual collapse.

Symptoms And Signs Of Coke Nose

Coke nose encapsulates several disorders associated with prolonged intranasal cocaine use. Some signs and symptoms of problems in the nose from cocaine use may include:

• Frequent nosebleeds
• Frequent runny nose
• Recurrent sinus infections
• Difficulty breathing
• Sleep apnea
• Noisy breathing
• Nose deformity

One or more of these symptoms may occur with any of the conditions explored above. Talk to your doctor about getting help for nasal consequences associated with cocaine use.

Can Coke Nose Be Treated?

Fortunately, many long-term effects of drug abuse are reversible or at least treatable. However, surgical options such as saddle nose correction or correction of septal or palatal perforation and many other conditions can only be resolved long-term with cessation of cocaine use.

If you are suffering from coke nose or have other health effects from cocaine use, help is available. You can regain your physical health through evidence-based treatments in addiction rehab.

Call today to talk with a treatment provider who can answer your rehab-related questions and help you determine which path to take on your journey to recovery.