Nasal manifestations of self-destructive behaviour.

Self-destructive behaviour is prevalent in a variety of different psychiatric disorders. Most common manifestations are self-inflicted cuts to the skin, especially the skin of the forearms. Manifestations of self-destructive behaviour involving the nasal area are rather rare. A series of cases is presented in which nasal diseases were initially misinterpreted, but could finally be identified as factitious disorders. Presented symptoms were foreign body insertions, hemodynamically relevant epistaxis and impetiginous inflammations of the paravestibular skin of the nose. Factitious disorders of the nose should be identified as such for the following reasons: avoiding unnecessary operations, adequate symptomatic rhinologic therapy and the initiation of psychiatric consultation.