Cocaine use can damage the nose, requiring surgery to replace the nasal structure with a prosthesis.
- Cocaine use can damage the nose.
- For the most serious cases, the nasal structure must be replaced by a prosthesis.
- This is partly due to the substances used to cut cocaine.
2.8% of 17-year-olds and 5.6% of adults – four times more in twenty years – had already experimented with cocaine in 2017, according to the government. However, this drug is very dangerous.
Cocaine use on the rise
Indeed, the consumption of cocaine is responsible for 10,000 hospitalizations per year. In addition, medical complications related to this substance increased sixfold between 2010 and 2016. Among these, there are neurological, cardiological or vascular, respiratory, psychiatric, infectious, dermatological, Oto-Rhino-Laryngologists ( ENT), etc.
Scientists from the National Health Service (NHS), the public health service in the United Kingdom, have found a new dangerous consequence: when using cocaine, there is a risk of losing your nose. “Every year the number of patients we treat increases”, explains Nicholas Calder, a doctor specializing in reconstructive nasal surgery, at the BBC.
Replace the nose with a prosthesis when it is too damaged
But what are the risks? Actress Danniella Westbrook, for example, has a hole in her nose due to her excessive consumption of cocaine. Another user of the drug, who spoke to the BBC under the pseudonym Fraser, told the BBC he had significant damage to the nasal septum but his nose could be removed and replaced with a prosthetic .
“The cocaine is cut with other ingredients, including levamisole, which is used in deworming tablets for dogs and cats, and phenacetin, an analgesic and anti-fever drug used in veterinary medicine,” explains Natarajan Balaji, president of the British Society of Facial Plastic Surgery, to the BBC. The purity rate of cocaine has been increasing for ten years, but remains only at 63.5%, according to the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT). The cocaine sold therefore frequently contains cutting products which also have psychoactive effects (levamisole, paracetamol, caffeine, hydroxyzine, lidocaine).
“Cocaine also has certain types of acids mixed into the ingredients, concludes Natarajan Balaji. When snorted, cocaine causes the blood vessels to constrict very strongly and the nasal septum is very sensitive to reduced blood flow. After using cocaine several times, the nasal structure may begin to die, causing perforations“.
