Applicability of Nasal Schirmer Test on Turkish Population and Identifying its Normal Range Values

Nasal secretion has a vital role on humidifying, warming and cleaning the inspired air and functions asone of the most important protective effects of respiratory epithelium (1-3). Its amount, quality and content could be altered by local diseases such as geriatric rhinitis or systemic diseases such as Sjogren’s Syndrome. Drugs, radiotheraphy, climate changes and upper respiratory tract infections may also lead to dysfunction of epithelial protective mechanisms (4, 5). Hypersecretion of seromucousglands of nasalmucosaleadsto runny nose, whereas hyposecretion results in nasal dryness. These two clinical findings are commonly seen in daily otolarygological practice.