Nose is the most important organ as it is the first entry point in our breathing.
It forms the entrance channel of the airway. As the air passes through here, it gets warmed and humidified and reaches the lungs cleanly. The narrowest point is the beginning of the nostrils. Air passes through this narrowest point and begins its journey to the lungs. The nostrils have a triangular structure consisting of bone at the bottom, septum cartilage in the middle, and alar cartilages that form the nose type at the top. The feature of this structure is that it consists of hard tissues and is suitable for adequate air penetration. Any narrowing here makes breathing through the nose impossible. Another reason why the nostrils are composed of hard tissues such as cartilage and bone is the laws of physics in air movements. The name of this principle is Bernoulli's Law.
According to this law; The speed of air moving from one place to another is inversely proportional to its pressure. In other words, the pressure of the accelerating air decreases. This basic principle allows planes to take off and move through the air. In short, it is this law that makes those giant planes fly.
So what does this have to do with our nostrils?
I mentioned that the anatomical structure of the nostrils consists of hard tissues. The speed of the air passing through the holes, which is the narrowest part of the nose, will be higher than in other places. Therefore, as air passes, its pressure will decrease. The negative pressure that will occur here will pull the soft tissues towards itself, causing the hole to narrow further. This will make it difficult for air to pass through, causing nasal congestion. In a normal nose, if there are no anatomical disorders such as deviation or enlargement of the nasal flesh, this effect does not appear much and is not felt.
Or a nose surgery has been performed for such reasons and the bone here is used to open the airway. If more and cartilage tissues are removed than necessary, we will begin to complain of nasal congestion, where Bernoulli's Law comes into play. I see these complaints mostly after rhinoplasty surgeries. Therefore, the point I pay most attention to when performing rhinoplasty is the physiological structure of the nostrils. This is the collapse that will occur due to narrowing of the nostrils or loss of hard tissues such as cartilage and bone. It will cause nasal obstruction.
My advice to physicians who perform this surgery is to always use their preferences to protect physiology and never forget Bernoulli's Law.
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