How to... Stop a nosebleed

By DR ROB GALLOWAY
Updated:

Floral box of tissues.

And squeeze: Pinch the soft bit of the nose, the middle and the tip

Despite being an A&E doctor, there are still a few medical emergencies that my mum (a French teacher) insists she knows more about than me, and what to do with a nosebleed is one of them.

She always tells me to pinch the bridge of the nose - the bony bit. Sorry Mum - and all the rest of you who insist this is the right approach - I'm afraid this is rubbish. You need to pinch the soft bit of the nose, the middle and the tip.

This is because what you're trying to do is compress the blood vessels and stop the blood flow for long enough to form a clot. Use your thumb and index finger and squeeze for ten to 15 minutes.

Another trick is to wrap ice in a towel and place it over the forehead to reduce the blood flow to the nose (but don't stop squeezing).

If after 20 minutes the bleeding has not stopped, or if at any stage you feel light-headed and have lost a lot of blood, seek medical attention (especially if you take anti-coagulants or have high blood pressure).

There are lots of simple tactics that doctors can use to help. Pressing even harder on the soft bit of the nose is the easiest course of action. If that fails, the ruptured blood vessel can be cauterised (literally, burnt to stop the bleeding - this involves placing a special stick up your nose to heat the bleeding vessels).

Still no joy? We can move on to packing the nose with a special ribbon soaked in adrenaline or even inserting a tampon (a special nasal one). If none of this works, the specialists might need to operate.

But most nosebleeds would stop if we just knew what to do and where to pinch. So, sorry Mum. You might be right about when I need to wear a coat and my choice of girlfriends, but when it comes to nosebleeds, leave it to me.

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