Many parents should have experienced nosebleeds in their children. Especially when the child has repeated nosebleeds, many people will worry about whether the child has any underlying diseases.
"Dr. Chen, my child has nosebleeds easily. Is this normal?"
"My son often wakes up with nosebleeds in the middle of the night, and I have been bleeding for two or three days in a row, do I need to get checked out? ”
Many parents must have experienced nosebleeds in their children. They are often woken up by their children’s nosebleeds in the middle of the night, or encounter their children’s faces covered in blood. Parents feel at a loss when their children come running; especially when their children have repeated nosebleeds, many people worry about whether their children have any underlying diseases.
Let’s first take a look at the causes of nosebleeds in children:
1. Trauma: nose picking, Blowing nose and inhaling foreign matter.
2. The nasal mucosa is affected by: dry air, allergic rhinitis, inhaled drugs, toxic gases and respiratory infections.
3. Structural problems: curvature of the nasal septum, tumors, and nasal passage stenosis.
4. Others: abnormal coagulation function, tumors, and drugs.
Don’t panic if your child has repeated nosebleeds! Stop bleeding correctly and get rid of bad habits
The most common cause of nosebleeds is nose picking. Many children have the habit of picking their noses. If they are not careful, they will injure the nasal mucosa and cause nosebleeds. If a foreign object is stuffed into the nose, it will become inflamed and cause nosebleeds. As for some people, the nasal mucosa is relatively sensitive and fragile. In a relatively dry environment, it is easy to cause spontaneous rupture and bleeding. This situation may occur in dry and cold climates in winter, and it is also easy to occur in air-conditioned rooms for a long time in summer.
Patients with allergic rhinitis are also prone to nosebleeds. When allergens land on the nasal mucosa, it will induce an inflammatory reaction in the mucosa. At this time, the nasal mucosa will become very fragile. In addition, Nosebleeds can occur if you sneeze, have a runny nose, blow your nose, or rub your nose repeatedly because it is itchy. Steroid nasal sprays used for allergic rhinitis can also cause nosebleeds as a side effect; respiratory infections caused by viruses or inhaling certain toxic gases (such as cigarettes) can also cause nosebleeds.
As for the structural problems of the nasal passages, for example, changes in the airflow in the nasal passages due to the curvature of the nasal septum or stenosis of the nasal passages may cause bleeding of the nasal mucosa; if tumors grow in the nasal passages, There may also be nosebleeds that require surgery. Fortunately, these causes are not common in pediatrics, and parents do not need to worry too much.
Children are prone to nosebleeds. It is relatively common and needs to be worried about, probably due to diseases that cause abnormal coagulation function, such as leukemia, lymphoma, or unexplained low platelets. Many drugs can also cause coagulation abnormalities. The most common one is aspirin. When such patients take this drug, doctors will remind the patient or their family members to pay attention to the side effects of the drug. Once side effects occur, As long as you stop taking the medicine for a while, you will return to normal.
After reading the first half of the explanation, parents will find that nosebleeds may be just an occasional symptom of normal people, or they may be serious diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma or tumors. As for which In cases of nosebleeds, do you need to see a doctor?
1. The nosebleed lasts too long: Generally, the nosebleed should last about five to ten minutes. If the nosebleed lasts too long, it may be a problem with the coagulation function.
2. The occurrence of combined symptoms: If in addition to nosebleeds, the patient's gums bleed easily, or bruises occur easily in other parts of the body, this is a sign of coagulation problems. If the coagulation function is abnormal, it should appear in various parts of the body, not just nosebleeds. In addition, if it is combined with unexplained fever, weight loss, or night sweats, it may also be a sign of disease.
3. Nosebleeds all occur in the same nasal passage: As mentioned earlier, certain structural abnormalities, foreign bodies or tumors may cause nosebleeds. In this case, the nosebleeds will be limited to the same nasal passage. , as for nose-picking or nosebleeds caused by allergic rhinitis, it may occur on both sides of the nasal passages.
4. Children under two years old: Nosebleeds rarely occur in children under two years old. Nose picking is rare at this age, and allergic rhinitis is not a common age, so nosebleeds appear repeatedly in children under two years old. Nosebleeds are something to worry about.
If your child often suffers from nosebleeds and has the conditions mentioned in the four points above, it is recommended to take him to a pediatrician for evaluation. Usually, he will first check whether there are local tumors or structural abnormalities, depending on the situation. You can draw blood and test coagulation function; as for imaging examinations, they are usually not helpful. For older children who can cooperate, nasal endoscopy can be arranged depending on the situation; but for small children who cannot cooperate, anesthesia may be required to complete it. It will only be arranged unless absolutely necessary.