Drugs and Sinus Damage

Do recreational drugs damage our sinuses?

They cause an inordinate amount of damage to the inside of our nose. The little mucus membranes and the cilia, the little hair cells that make that mucus blanket flow in the back that you can swallow the bad particles of pollution and allergens and infection, they kind of get kind of traumatized by cigarette smoke, traumatized by marijuana smoke, traumatized by cocaine. The blood supply to your nose actually shrinks from the cocaine to the point that you will end up with damage to the point where you could end up with a hole from one side of your nose to the other and I've actually seen patients whose noses actually collapse and cave in and their whole nose looks caved into their face. That's really the exception rather than the rule but anyway you slice it, you're doing a lot of damage to the inside of your nose.