Implications of Septal Deviation on the Intranasal Schirmer Test

Background: Nasal obstruction is frequently encountered in otorhinolaryngology and can arise from various causes, with septal deviation being the most prevalent anatomical factor contributing to obstruction.Methods: This prospective comparative study was conducted in the Department of ENT, a tertiary care center in Pipariya, Vadodara, Gujarat.The study was conducted from October 2022 to October 2023.Patients with deviated nasal septum were subjected to intra-nasal Schirmer's test and compared with an equal number of patients with straight septum.The Schirmer's strips were folded to create a 45° angle at a distance of 5 mm.Subsequently, these folded strips were positioned bilaterally on the mucosa of the anterior nasal septum.After a 10-minute interval, the area of moisture absorption was measured in millimeters.Results: A total of 50 patients with DNS were part of the study and were compared with an equal number of patients with a normal septum.About 66% of the patients who participated in the study were found to be males and 24% were females.Maximum number of patients lie in the age group of 18-30 years.In our present study, a maximum number of patients (20 patients) have borderline (6-10mm) range of nasal moisture, followed by 18 patients having dryness (<6mm) on the side of DNS and the least number of patients (12 patients) have normal (11-15mm or more) nasal moisture.Since the p>0.05 the results for the present study are statistically insignificant. Conclusion:Our study concluded that the Schirmer test values were less on the deviated side of the septum than the opposite side and people without septal deviation in most patients.This finding supports the negative effect of septal deviation on nasal moisture, although the difference was not statistically significant.