Question
My child is ten months old and often gets a cold with a runny nose. The doctor suspects it might be nasal allergies. How should we deal with it?
Answer
A normal person secretes about several hundred milliliters of mucus daily, which flows along the direction of the nasal mucosal cilia towards the posterior nares and into the throat, along with evaporation and drying, making it generally invisible from the nostrils. Children have richer blood vessels in their nasal mucosa than adults, and they also produce more secretions. Since their nervous system has not yet fully developed the regulatory function for nasal mucosal secretion and cilial movement, and children are not good at wiping their own noses, they often have clear runny noses, which is a normal physiological phenomenon and there is no need to worry. If a child has two lines of mucus hanging from the nostrils all day or if yellow-green purulent mucus is discharged, this is a pathological sign, possibly indicating sinusitis. Persistent runny nose with white discharge may be due to a deficiency of vitamins A and B, and treatment with these vitamins can be effective. Allergies to inhaled dust can cause a large amount of clear runny nose in a short time. A few children with foreign objects in their nasal cavity also frequently have runny noses. However, some children with nasopharyngeal lymphadenopathy also often have runny noses, but they also have symptoms such as severe snoring, dull facial expression, flat nose, which can seriously affect growth and posture. Immediate treatment should be sought.