Empty Nose Syndrome

“Empty nose” patients suffer from chronic nasal crusting, dryness, and intermittent bleeding. The most distinctive symptom of ENS is “paradoxical obstruction”in that the patient suffers from difficulty breathing despite a widely patent nasal airway (Sozansky & Houser, 2014). ENS patients describe their feeling of nasal obstruction as constant and continuous: feeling of suffocation, inability or significant difficulty to breathe through their nose, feeling that their nose is too open, sensation of excessive airflow, shortness of breath, difficulty to properly inflate the lungs, lack of nasal resistance, and/or undifferentiated breathing difficulties (Houser, 2006; Houser, 2007; Chhabra & Houser, 2009; Scheithauer, 2010; Coste et al, 2012).