PRAIRIE DOC®
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • Television
  • Podcasts
  • Perspective
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Foundation
  • Book

As Plain as the Nose on your Face

7/6/2020

 

As Plain as the Nose on your Face

By Andrew Ellsworth, MD
 
My friend broke my nose at an after-prom party in high school. It was nothing deliberate, such as fighting over a girl. Rather, we bumped heads while wearing those big round air-filled sumo wrestler suits. Besides hurting a lot, I remember thinking, “I’ve never been so aware of my nose before.” I was overly cautious of anything that could come close to my nose.
 
I think we sometimes take our noses for granted. Despite being right between our eyes, it’s not our noses, but our heart, lungs, and other organs that get most of our interest. We brush our teeth daily. We get our eyes checked regularly. We adorn our ears and fingers with rings all the time, but the nose is generally ignored. 
 
Sure, there are some famous noses and some people are more aware of the size of their nose than others, but mostly, outside an occasional bloody or runny nose, we don’t pay it much attention. 
 
During annual preventive physical exams, I usually look around for any suspicious spots that could be cancer. One of the most common areas is on the nose. The nose sticks out and is susceptible to getting more sunlight and thus can be prone to getting skin cancer. If you notice a new bump on your nose that won’t go away after a month or two, you should get it checked out. Better yet, be proactive and put sunscreen on your nose as well as your ears, cheeks, neck, arms, and legs and anywhere else that will be in the sun. It’s best to keep your nose out of it (the sun, that is) and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
 
Of course, we cannot talk about our noses without expressing appreciation for our precious sense of smell. Smell helps our brains taste all those amazing flavors and when food goes bad, we depend on our nose to warn us before we take a bite of something that we want to thumb our nose at.
 
I can’t imagine going through summer without the smell of flowers, apple pie, a campfire and fireworks. With Covid-19 around, the smell of peanuts at a crowded baseball game or cotton candy at the fair will have to wait for now, I guess. If you lose your sense of smell talk to your doctor. It could be from allergies or a cold, but it could also be something more serious like the coronavirus.
 
As much as we’d like to see everyone’s nose again, the right thing to do is as plain as the nose on our face. Let’s not get our noses out of joint. Let’s keep our noses to the grindstone, continue to be mindful of social distancing and wear masks that cover our mouths and our noses!
 
Andrew Ellsworth, MD is part of The Prairie Doc® team of physicians and currently practices family medicine in Brookings, South Dakota. For free and easy access to the entire Prairie Doc® library, visit www.prairiedoc.org and follow Prairie Doc® on Facebook featuring On Call with the Prairie Doc® a medical Q&A show streaming on Facebook and broadcast on SDPB most Thursdays at 7 p.m. central.        

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

PRAIRIE DOC® MEDIA IS A PART OF HEALING WORDS FOUNDATION.

FIND SCIENCE-BASED PEDIATRIC MEDICAL INFORMATION ON OUR SISTER SITE. 
Healing Words Foundation logo
Play Eat Sleep logo
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • Television
  • Podcasts
  • Perspective
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Foundation
  • Book