[Rhinolith - diagnosis and treatment features]

Exogenous foreign bodies enter the nasal cavity through the nostrils or in some cases through the choana and usually get stuck in the lower or middle nasal meatus. An alien body that has been in the nasal cavity for a long time serves as a nucleus around which calcium and magnesium salts, organic components, are deposited from the nasal secretions, and contributes to the formation of rhinolith (nasal stone, from Greek rhino - nose, lithos - stone). Endogenous material (thick mucous secret or a blood clot drying into the crusts, desquamated epithelium, an atypically located tooth, products of cellular lysis and necrosis of the mucous membrane) can also serve as a potential nucleus for salt deposition. Narrowing of the nasal passages due to the curvature of the nasal septum, hypertrophy of the nasal conchae, violation of mucociliary transport and inflammatory changes in the mucous membrane in chronic rhinitis or rhinosinusitis can lead to a delay in the mucous discharge in the nasal cavity, pH changes, excessive saturation of the secretion with crystalloids, initiate crystallization around the nucleus and deposition of salts. This article presents the results of clinical examination and surgical treatment of a patient with rhinolith formed by prolonged inhalation of construction dust.