This is an automatically translated article.
The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor I Le Van Quang - Ear, Nose Throat Doctor - Department of General Surgery - Vinmec Nha Trang International General Hospital. BSCKI. Le Van Quang is an expert in the field of ENT with 15 years of experience.Smell disorder is a disease that occurs when the olfactory organ or the part that perceives odors has problems. The disorder of smell is a manifestation of many diseases such as colds, sinusitis, rhinitis, ... It is necessary to treat the disease early to avoid leading to unpredictable complications.
1. Function of the nose
The nose is one of the five human senses, which has the function of perceiving odors. The smell area is located above the nose, between the eyes, has a small rectangular shape and has a lot of mucus. Recent studies show. The human nose is capable of distinguishing more than 1 trillion different odors. The nose can recognize odors with toxic properties such as gas, rotten food, polluted air, etc. When eating, the sense of smell plays a role in stimulating digestion, making eating more appetizing.
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2. What is a smell disorder?
Odor disorder occurs when the sense of smell or the sense of smell has a problem. Smell disorders can manifest in many different levels, from poor smell to loss of smell, wrong smell,... After having a cold, there are some cases of loss of sense of smell, but only temporarily. However, there are cases of head trauma that can permanently lose the sense of smell or cause the wrong smell. In this case, the patient always smells rotten and this condition is known as olfactory hallucinations.Impairment of smell is usually not life-threatening. However, if you lose your sense of smell, the risk is also quite high. Specifically, patients may not be able to detect rancid food, leaky gas smell, burning smell when there is a fire, etc. At the same time, loss of sense of smell can also lead to loss of taste, leading to depression ,...
3. Common causes of smell disorders
Due to heredity. Due to trauma Due to viral infection - eg COVID Due to inflammatory disease of the nose and sinuses Due to aging.
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4. Treatment of smell disorders
Depending on the cause of the smell disorder, there will be a corresponding treatment method for each patient. Usually, one or a combination of the following treatments can be selected:Treatment of mental illness; Rinse the nose with physiological saline, use antibiotics in case of olfactory disturbances due to bacterial infections; Take anti-allergic drugs; Surgical removal of nasal polyps and benign tumors in the nose; Correct the nasal septum, clear the nose; Sinus drainage surgery,... In case of loss of smell related to aging, it cannot be cured. If the smell disorder is caused by brain injury, after recovering from the injury, the disease will go away on its own.
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