Self damage to nose

[pattig]

I am hoping someone here can give hard evidence that a person cannot make their own nose bones bigger.  my daughter is convinced that she has made her nose bigger by pressing on it.  A little more detail:  She has had severe pressure in her head and face for several months and started pushing on her nose bridge to help relieve the pressure.  Now she feels she has pressed so hard that she has caused the bones  in the bridge of her nose to protrude out on each side.  She thinks they feel bonier and sharper than they used to.  She did the pressing so severely last summer that the skin was raw and her nose  bled for about a day.

I don't notice a change, but feeling her nose, I think the bones on the sides of her nose bridge do seem pointier,  but she also has lost some weight so maybe it is just thinner?

I appreciate any input... she also... probably not surprisingly... has anxiety and this whole issue is not helping her progress in getting it under control.  She feels she has damaged herself and cannot live with it.

[nursegirl6572]

"I really would like to hear more from people or specialists that know for a fact that the nose bones or cartilage or whatever, cannot be changed or increased by self manipulation"

I understand that you might be looking for a different kind of reinforcement....but I can tell you with MEDICAL CERTAINTY that it is not possible.  Unless she actually fractured her own nose by punching it, or falling down the stairs, etc....she will not change the structure.

Perhaps she needs a different, or more aggresive therapist?

[pattig]

Hello, thank you so much for your reply,.
So here is some more info.  She is in therapy already since she has been dealing with anxiety symptoms for about a year and a half already.  This issue with her nose is new to me, but something that she has been doing for about a year, or more.  She is obsessively looking at "before and after pictures".  I have taken her to an ENT that also does reconstructive surgery and he told her in his "medical opinion" she could not do the damage and change to her nose that she has described.  But she does not believe him.  I realize this is most likely a self-image issue.

I really would like to hear more from people or specialists that know for a fact that the nose bones or cartilage or whatever, cannot be changed or increased by self manipulation.  She look on the internet alot and cannot find anything to dispute this fact.  That is the biggest issue... that she caused it.  Thanks everyone!!

[nursegirl6572]

You can reassure your daughter that there is no way she could have made the bones bigger in her nose, it is impossible.  Now, from what it sounds like...if she is messing with it as much as you say she is...she could have caused some soft tissue swelling that could have made it appear a bit larger...but the swelling should be obvious if that is the case, not to mention...if she is manipulating it as much as you have described, enough to cause swelling...then there would likely be bruising as well..

More than anything, it sounds as though she is having some significant self image problems...and considering that this has been going on for quite a long time....I'd say it warrants pyschotherapy. IMO, she should have actually have started that already, from what it sounds like.

You don't say how old she is...but I'm betting a young teen?  If she is in her teen years....those are rough times....a child's body is going through so many changes, and with the peer pressure, and media pressure to "look good", it is no great surprise that kids struggle with wanting to look good...and even having self image issues where they perceive themselves as looking unattractive, even if they're not.

My advice to you is.....first...reassure her that it is physically impossible to alter the shape or size of her bones.....and finally, please be sure to get her into some couonselling as soon as you can.  You definitely do not want this to get any worse than it already is.

Best of luck to you both!

[md135]

this is probably the weirdest post i have read in a long time so i thought id post, i used to think i did the same, (i have a large not big! nose) when i went through puberty i used to push on it, (wash just one of those silly little habits you get into when your young..) and i could have seared that every time i did it it got bigger! and when i stopped it stops it was a weird thing, but i think in the end i just realized it was a simple growth spurt. I seriously  do not see how it is possible to grow a bone more by putting pressure on it! sounds crazy to me!! did you google it at all? im sure there is a lot there!

I think its simply what you have on your hands is a daughter (like every girl in the world) who is just getting a bit self conscious about here body as she gets older..
If it worrying you or her a lot that it is causing anxiety then maybe go talk to therapist about the issue? not put her in there so to speak, but therapists can be very friendly and would not mind at all just to call in and have a chat about the topic and i am sure they can give your daughter some sound medical advice on the matter to set her mind at ease... lets just hope the next thing wont be she wants a nose job! lol good luck,,,

[pattig]

Anyone? Please.