Nose Bleeds - Santa Clara,CA

My son, now 18, has had his nose cauterized twice. The effect seem to last about 5 years. See an Ear Nose and Throat doctor.

Both heat and cold seem to trigger the nose bleeds, and if he gets one, he's likely to get another one (I think the scabs don't heal).

One doctor told me that I can put bacitracin or vasciline in his nostril to help the scab heal. (and limit the recurring bloody noses). I also make sure he gets a vitamin with iron in it because of the blood loss.

There is a product called "Nosebleeds QR" that I've got from drugstore.com (search on the internet). Someone told me it was used by boxers to stop nose bleeds. Its expensive - $5 or so for each application, but cheaper than a trip to the emergency room. (Once at middle school they called an ambulance when they couldn't get his nose to stop bleeding.)

Good Luck!

I was told once to put vaseline in the nose at night to moisturize and help heal the blood vessels for someone who is prone to nosebleed.

It runs in my family. My Mother got them, I did, my youngest brother, my son and one of his two sons. Generally children outgrow them somewhere between 11-13. In my case, the bleeding was profuse and could take hours to stop and more than once required a trip to the emergency room. There was no one thing that set them off, but heat and exertion were frequently elements involved, but not always. I remember going to a specialist around the age of eight or so and having the blood vessels (there were two) cauderized which put an end to the problem. The nose bleeds occur because there is very little tissue protecting the veins in your nose and they can become aggitated causing a nose bleed. If your daughter's nose bleeds are minor, you may want to leave well enough alone since she'll eventually outgrow them. If they become more frequent or are severe, consider asking the doctor about having the veins cauderized (not a very pleasant procedure as I recall).
A tip I learned from the doc in ER - to stop a severe nose bleed, pack gauze (or cotton balls) under the upper lip, while also applying pressure to the sides of the nose. Works like a charm!

Hi N.,

My son did too. I thought it was allergies and nose picking combined. A friend suggested we visit a pediatric specialist at Stanford and we did. He wound up having an artery close to the surface of the skin that kept breaking through when touched or moved by such things as picking or sneezing. He just had a very minor surgery to cauterize the artery and is now nose bleed free, after years of nosebleeds. I would suggest to first begin with your doctor, as you did, and we did also, but our doctor was a general family doctor and did not have the insight to refer us to a Respiratory Specialist. The doctor who did the surgery is named Dr. Peter Koltai, and if you need more information, please contact me. I wish we had done this sooner!

All the best,
M.