Its relationship to surrounding structures is in part responsible for a harmonious, pleasing visage as a whole. Functionally, the nose provides an airway and acts to warm, filter and humidify air passing through it. Noses that deviate from ideal structural proportions – whether subtle variations of normal or more dramatic post-traumatic or neoplastic deformities. The lining of the nose is modified hair bearing skin at the nostrils and transitions to mucosa superior early. The purpose of this part of the mucosa is to humidify the air destined for the lungs. The lung alveoli need humidified warm air before they can extract oxygen. The increased surface area afforded by the protrusions into the nose increases the nose’s ability to humidify this air. At the root of the nose where inside only a thin plate of bone separates the brain from the outside world projections from the olfactory nerve into the nose gives specialised mucosa which confers our sense of smell. This is vital for our sense of taste and of course can be affected by any surgery to the septum of the nose or trauma to the face.
