epistaxis
Meaning of epistaxis: The medical name for a nosebleed, and one of the few bleeding sites where the exact spot decides how easily it stops.
Definition of epistaxis
Epistaxis is bleeding from inside the nose. The lining of the nasal septum and the nasal walls carries a dense network of small vessels running just beneath a thin, easily disturbed surface, so bleeding there is common and usually brief. Most episodes come from the front of the septum, while a smaller number arise further back, where the bleeding is heavier and harder to reach.
Why does the nose bleed so readily?
Its lining is thin, richly supplied and constantly exposed. Several arteries converge on the front of the nasal septum, the partition between the two sides, and their branches form a network sitting immediately beneath a delicate surface. That surface dries in heated air, cracks in cold weather, and is disturbed by rubbing, blowing, picking, allergic inflammation and sprays used inside the nose. Small vessels sitting so close to the outside world tear easily and bleed briskly for their size.
How do front and back nosebleeds differ?
| Feature | Anterior | Posterior |
|---|---|---|
| Where it starts | Front of the septum, near the nostril | Deep in the nasal cavity, further back |
| How it appears | Blood dripping from one nostril | Blood running down the back of the throat |
| How common | The great majority of episodes | A small minority |
| Volume | Usually modest and self-limiting | Often heavier and harder to control |
| Who it affects | Children and young adults most often | Older adults more often |
When does a nosebleed point to something else?
When it happens without an obvious local trigger, lasts unusually long, recurs frequently, or comes alongside bruising or bleeding from other sites. A shortage of platelets, the fragments that plug damaged vessels, allows bleeding that would ordinarily seal itself, and thrombocytopenia from marrow disease or its treatment presents this way. Drugs thinning the blood have a similar effect by design. An inherited disorder of vessel walls produces clusters of fragile dilated vessels in the nasal lining and repeated bleeding from childhood onward. Readings taken during a nosebleed are commonly raised, and whether high blood pressure causes the bleeding rather than accompanying it remains unsettled.
How is it told apart from coughed blood?
By establishing where the blood came from, which is not always obvious. Blood from the back of the nose runs down the throat, is swallowed or coughed up, and gets reported as blood from the lungs. Hemoptysis proper means blood brought up from the airways below the voice box, and blood swallowed from the nose may also be vomited later, resembling bleeding from the stomach.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Epistaxis settled with local pressure and no further bleeding occurred.
Good to know
Blood from a posterior nosebleed runs into the throat and may be coughed or vomited afterward, so it can be mistaken for bleeding from the lungs or the stomach.
Word origin
Where “epistaxis” comes from
From the Greek epistaxis, a bleeding at the nose, built from epi-, meaning upon, and stazein, to fall in drops.