Description of Anosmia Condition - Essay Example

Anosmia Anosmia is the condition that is used to describe those people who have lost their sense of smell. It can be triggered by a variety of factor. It can also be caused by damage to the facial area. If the damage has been able to include the olfactory nerve, then the patient will certainly suffer the loss of their sense of smell.For some pople, the condition can be temporary while it can be permanent for some. The condition itself can also vary in its effect and scope. There are cases wherein the patient suffers only a limited form of anosmia.

There are some smells that the person can't perceive in their senses, it is suspected that the cause may be genetically pre-disposed.The case of properly identifying an anosmic condition is further complicated by the fact that the sense of smell is also confused with the sense of taste. In fact, there are some people who are using their sense of taste in order to compensate for the loss of their sense of smell. This is easily explained by the fact that the sense of taste and the sense of smell resides primarily in the nose.

While it is true that sense of smell is all in the nose, the sense of taste does not reside in the nose alone. The nerves at the mouth serves as one of the areas wherein the taste can be distinguished but the senses at the nose are also used to determine the taste of a food just by the aroma that reaches the person's nose.For those suffering from the temporary loss of their sense of smell or anosmia, it might simply be caused by a lot of mucous secretion or an infection on the area of the nose.

Aside from this, there are no known causes for a temporary state of anosmia. For those who are suffering the permanent form of anosmia, they are probably caused by damage to their brains. It is either their brain area that deals with the olfactory system has been injured or their olfactory nerves at the nose itself have died permanently. There is also the possibility that the said person is suffering from genetically inclined factors related to anosmia. There are also other kinds of diseases that can be the cause of anosmia or a loss of the sense of smell.

Diseases like the Parkinson's disease and also alzheimer's disease are also the main culprits of causing anosmia. In fact, it is a definite sign that you have these diseases if you start to lose your sense of smell all of a sudden.As for this case, anosmia that resulted from damage to the facial area most likely caused damage to the olfactory nerves at the nose of the patient. There are also nasal sprays that can be the temporary cause of developing anosmia. Because of the vaso-constricting properties of some nasal sprays, they can block the flow of blood to and from the nasal receptors for smell and cause anosmia.

It is advisable then for individuals to use nasal sprays that do not have particularly vaso-constricting properties. It is a simple matter of choosing the ones without vein constricting properties.Bibliography : Doty RL, Mishra A (2001). "Influences of nasal obstruction, rhinitis, and rhinosinusitis on the ability to smell". Laryngoscope 111: 409-23. Doty RL, Yousem DM, Pham LT, Kreshak AA, Lee WW (1997). "Olfactory dysfunction in patients with head trauma". Arch Neurol 54: 1131-1140.