What Causes Nose Bleeding After Head Injury?

Posted on Sun, 12 Jan 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 12 Jan 2014 Answered on

Fri, 31 Jan 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : My four year old son was wrestling with my nephew- he fell back and hurt his head . He cried but was easily calmed down. Thirty min after his injury he went to bed- no complaint of his head hurting. Four hours later I woke him up to check on him and have him go potty. His nose began to bleed out of one nostril. Not a huge amount - it just streamed out- I wiped it away and then some more. It seems to have stopped. He took awhile to.fully wake up but when he did there wasn't any confusion or pain. He was in a deep sleep though. Is this something I should take him to the ER for? What else should I look for?

Answered by Dr. Dr. R.A. SINGH (1 hour later)

Brief Answer: MRI head will be helpful. Detailed Answer: Hi, Thanks for writing your query. After reading your post, I would like to advise that you should get his MRI or CT SCAN of head done. Nasal bleed is possible after head injury. It should be properly investigated. Since your child is otherwise normal, it seems to be not an emergency but still get him clinically examined. I hope this is helpful to you. Thanks.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar