A Forgotten Difficult Entity:ozena Report of Two Cases

Abstract

Atrophic rhinitis or ozena is a chronic nasal disease characterized by progressive atrophy of the nasal mucosa and underlying bone, accompanied by the formation of foul smelling, thick, dry crusts in the greatly enlarged nasal cavities. Although the incidence of ozena is greatly diminished, it is still encountered rarely. The etiology of ozena still remains enigmatic but hereditary, infectious, developmental, endocrine and nutritional factors have been implicated. We describe two patients with endoscopical, clinical evidence and computed tomography findings of atrophic rhinitis along with a review of the current literature.