Thomas Jacques shared his warning after Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris last week revealed she has a hole in her nose caused by excessive cocaine use, saying it ruined her life
A plastic surgeon has warned of an increase in patients seeking treatment for ‘coke nose’, saying even “occasional recreational use” can cause harm. Thomas Jacques, an ENT and rhinoplasty specialist, issued his caution following Paris Jackson’s revelation last week that she has a hole in her nose due to excessive cocaine consumption.
The surgeon from The Cadogan Clinic in London said he’s witnessing growing nasal complications in people who snort even modest quantities of the Class A drug. ‘Coke nose’ refers to nasal damage triggered by cocaine consumption, and includes holes in the septum caused by reduced blood flow, which leads to tissue damage.
“You don’t have to be what most people would consider a ‘heavy habitual user’,” said the surgeon. “There do seem to be some patients where it can cause a lot of damage from occasional recreational use. Some patients report having quite nasty inflammation and severe destruction, even from small amounts of the drug.
“There isn’t a safe amount. It’s best to completely avoid it. Because once the damage is done, the fix is possible, but it’s not easy. There’s no magic wand and the surgery can be complex.”
Mr Jacques explained that cocaine causes a type of inflammation in the nasal cavity called vasculitis, which means the blood vessels that supply blood to the tissues of the nose become inflamed themselves.
For those that take just a small amount of cocaine, this can cause minor sniffles and slight congestion, but Mr Jacques warned that some people are much more sensitive to the drug than others and can have more serious consequences from taking small amounts.
“The more cocaine you take, the worse the damage becomes, and over time the inflammation starts to compromise the blood supply to the tissue of the nose, which can eventually cause a perforation in the septum, which is what Paris Jackson is talking about”, he said.
“This can cause whistling, bleeding, and crusting in the nose, but some people don’t even know they have it, and don’t have any symptoms.”
He added: “Less commonly, we see destruction of the skin between the nostrils, which effectively creates one big nostril, like Daniela Westbrook famously had. It can also rarely cause perforations in the outer surface of the nose, or a hole through the roof of the mouth.
“I’ve seen all of those things, although they are pretty rare.”
Meanwhile, Brits buying cocaine on a weekend night out could be funding the Russian war effort in Ukraine, UK crime chiefs have warned. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said a billion-pound money laundering operation active in the UK is bankrolling Vladimir Putin’s war machine, as well as Russian espionage activities.
The vast money-laundering network is so rich it bought a bank in Kyrgyzstan to finance Russia’s military activities. The international scheme, headquartered in Moscow, connects Brits “buying cocaine on a Friday night” to the “highest levels of organised crime ” and the “Russian industrial military complex”, according to revelations from the NCA last Friday.
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