Severe Nosebleed and Its Treatment

As many small boys know from experience, and others will learn soon, bleeding from the nose, as a rule, ceases spontaneously. Epistaxis then can be classed as a relative emergency by the physician. I do not think any of us need rush to see patients who have epistaxis because if enough time elapses the bleeding of about 80% of them will be checked without treatment. However, it is well to remember that when bleeding is persistent, a serious degree of anemia and occasionally death may result. Deficiencies in the clotting mechanism of the blood are seldom contributing factors in nasal hemorrhage. The bleeding is oftener due to a leak in the side of a vessel, which simply bursts open. When an older person has such a leaking vessel, the vessel tends to gape because of the sclerotic changes in arteries and veins and atrophy of smooth muscle. The bleeding of