Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2020 December 15

= December 15 =

Do people who get their entire noses removed also sometimes experience empty nose syndrome?
Do people who get their entire noses removed–for instance, due to facial skin cancer–also sometimes experience empty nose syndrome? Does it make any difference whether or not they subsequently get a prosthetic nose implanted? Futurist110 (talk) 09:11, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
 * People only get the externally protruding schnozzle removed. The larger part of the nose is formed by the internal nasal cavity, where most of the nasal mucosa is found that plays a role in the syndrome. --Lambiam 14:44, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Is the internal nasal cavity ever removed? Futurist110 (talk) 21:50, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Unlike the external nasal cavity? If your head is removed, then for sure so is your nasal cavity. --Lambiam 23:52, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I meant while still surviving afterwards. Futurist110 (talk) 03:44, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Um, you can't remove a cavity, unless a) you remove the entire surrounding tissue or b) you simply open the cavity by removing one part of the surrounding tissue. In the case of your nostrils, you can effectively remove those by removing the lump of cartilage that surrounds them entirely.  I assume that's what you mean by having the entire nose removed.  However, the internal structure of the nose involves more than the cartilaginous protrusion between your eyes and mouth, it also involves large cavities inside the skull itself; quite literally you would need to remove a person's whole head to remove them from the person.  I suppose technically you could remove just the chunk of the skull surrounding the nasal cavity and leave the rest of the head behind, but you'd be trying to carve through the thickest bone in the body to do so; I can't imagine anyone doing so intentionally for any reason, and I can't imagine any accidental process that would remove just that section of bone and leave the rest of the skull behind.  So no, you cannot remove the entire nasal cavity and survive.  -- Jayron 32 19:27, 17 December 2020 (UTC)