Experts have urged people to let their sneezes out after a man in Scotland tore a hole in his throat attempting to stop one of his.
The unnamed patient, in his 30s, was driving when he pinched his nose and closed his mouth to try and stop himself convulsing.
He was left in severe pain and a visit to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee revealed he’d suffered a 2mm by 2mm tear in his windpipe.
According to University of Dundee medics, who included the incident in a BMJ medical journal case report, closing both your nose and mouth during a sneeze can increase the pressure in the upper airway by around 20 times.
As well as throat tears, it can cause other injuries such as ruptured eardrums, broken ribs and aneurysms.
When doctors at Ninewells Hospital examined the man they noticed a cracking sound when they touched his neck.
The patient, who had a history of allergies, did not need surgery, but was kept in hospital for observation.
He was discharged and given painkillers and hay fever medication. A scan taken five weeks later showed the tear had healed.
The report’s lead author, Dr Rasads Misirovs, told BBC Scotland News that people should let their sneezes out, as it’s our body’s natural defense mechanism to rid our nasal passages from irritants.
He said: ‘We should gently cover the face either with our hand or inner side of elbow to prevent the irritants such as viruses, together with saliva, mucus reaching others around us.’
He said however, that there are a few ways you can supress a sneeze without blocking both your airways.
‘I personally have used another technique by pressing a thumb on my upper lip, just under the nose, without blocking nasal passages for a few seconds – that works for me.’
Throat tears, which in the medical world are known as ‘spontaneous tracheal perforations’, happen very rarely but they can be potentially life-threatening.
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