A rotten egg smell in your nose can have several causes, says an E.N.T. doctor.
Eeeuuwww! What is causing that rotten egg odor from your nose?
“A bad smell in the nose can come from the sinuses, or old mucus in the nose (possibly infected) or acid reflux,” says Dr. Stacey Silvers, MD, of Madison ENT & Facial Plastic Surgery in NYC, who is board certified in otolaryngology; one of her specialties is sinus surgery.
She explains: “Acid can come up as high as the back of the nose, causing a bad smell or odor.”
Does a rotten egg smell from the nose, or a particularly bad odor, necessarily indicate it may be cancer?
Dr. Silvers answers, “Rarely, a foul odor can come from an olfactory bulb tumor or a nasal tumor.”
Located at the base of the frontal lobe, the olfactory bulb processes information about odors detected by the nose.
When you inhale, odor molecules (also known as odorants) are detected by sensory neurons in the nasal cavity.
These neurons send signals to the olfactory bulb, which then relays the information to other areas of the brain for further processing for smell recognition.
This all happens in just a few hundred milliseconds after inhaling the molecules.
Again, it’s extremely unlikely that what seems like a rotten egg smell coming from your nose is actually a malignant tumor.
“If the symptoms persist, then a nasal examination may be necessary,” says Dr. Silvers.
If the rotten egg smell is accompanied by a persistent new kind of headache, vision problems or cognitive problems, you should seek a thorough evaluation.
But even if the rotten egg stench is the only problem and persists despite making efforts to reduce acid reflux or let a suspected infection in the mucus clear up, it’s time to see your doctor.
You may also want to consider irrigating your nose on a daily basis with a saline solution and neti pot (shown below), both of which can be purchased from a drug store or online.
Neti pot. Shutterstock/By nullplus
An NYC expert in ear, nose and throat care, Dr. Silvers has been named among America’s Top Physicians and Surgeons in facial plastic surgery and otolaryngology numerous times since 2003.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
.
