How to Tell If You Broke Your Nose After Falling

Your nose can be broken after falling or hitting hard a surface. You'll need to reduce swelling on your nose immediately. Sometime pain can be so severe and swelling can make your nose look crooked, but you might not necessarily have broken the nose. If there isn't severe bleeding, allow the swelling ro reduce before seeing a doctor to fully determine whether or not you've broken your nose. However, immediate treatment is needed if there is a large amount of blood or nosebleed that you can't stop.

Things You'll Need

• Anti-inflammatory medication
• Ice pack

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Instructions

• 1

  Touch your noise gently to see if you feel more pain when moving an area of your nose. After falling, you should immediately put an ice bag on your nose to reduce any swelling and to help numb the pain.

• 2

  Look in the mirror for swelling or discoloration. Continue trying to allow the swelling to reduce by apply ice and take anti-inflammatory medicine to help with the pain.

• 3

  Check your nose again and more closely if severe pain continues. Look for any crookedness. Also, check to see if there is a bruise near the area of pain.

• 4

  Continue checking for symptoms of a broken nose, such as a constant runny nose, nosebleeds, a grating sound when you touch your nose and a blocked nasal passage. Other complications may include deformity, breathing difficulty, persistent drainage and infection of the nose, sinuses or facial bones.

• 5

  See a doctor if the symptoms persist after swelling has reduced. Have a physical examination and an X-ray. This will be the only way to fully diagnose a broken nose.