Nasal Blood Vessel Response to Cold Temperature Posted: 07-09-07 20:08pm
Does cold temperature make the blood
vessels in the nose constrict or dilate?
Common sense tells me it constrict.
Sometimes when I step outside into a cold
winter day, I feel my nose "openining up"
immediately. So it seems the cold
constrict the blood vessels. Also, when I
have a nosebleed, if I step outside in the
winter, the bleeding stops fast. My
friends also have this experience. This
means the blood vessels get constricted by
the cold.
But I also heard the blood vessels in the
nose will dilate when it's cold because
the nose have to "warm" the cold air and
the colder it is the more "warming" it
needs to do so more blood get sent to the
surface.
Which one seems right? I've always thought
that it's "common knowledge" that cold
constrict blood vessels on the surface of
skins, hence we use icepacks.
