Rhinotillexomania: a manifestation of psychiatric illness

To increase the knowledge of rhinotillexomania, or compulsive nose picking, as a manifestation of psychiatric disease through the presentation of a case series and a review of the literature.

We present three clinical cases with self-destructive nasal injuries as a symptom of different psychiatric diseases.

One patient presented amputation of the middle turbinate as a manifestation of an obsessive-compulsive disorder of bipolar disease. Two patients had a septal perforation. In the first patient it was the first symptom of factitious dermatitis and in the second it was during the course of schizophrenia. Only control with psychological treatment and psychotropic drugs stabilised the nasal injury.

Self-induced injuries are a diagnostic and treatment challenge for the ENT specialist. A knowledge of psychiatric diseases related to destructive injuries to the nose will improve the approach to patients and prevent the progression of local damage and its complications.