Ozaena (Fetid Nose)

There are symptoms that isolate. That cause others to pull back before a single word is spoken. Ozaena — the so-called fetid nose — is one of them. The nasal mucosa recedes, crusts form, and an odour streams from the nose that others experience as repellent. You yourself often no longer smell it, because the olfactory nerves have long since grown numb. But you feel the effect: the averted faces, the careful distance, the quiet discomfort in the eyes of others.

Medically, ozaena is described as a degenerative disease of the nasal mucosa — a tissue atrophy that creates space for bacteria which produce the characteristic stench. Treatment involves rinses, ointments, sometimes surgical interventions. That alleviates the symptoms. But it does not answer the question waiting beneath the surface.