The nose also belongs to one of the seven orifices. It has many functions of respiration, osphresis, phonafion and resonance. These functions are basically in agreement with those of western medicine. The nose is closely related to the following viscera, meridians and collaterals.

The lung opens into the nose. Naturally, the lung is closely related to the nose. Invasion of the lung by exogenous pathogenic factors, heat in the lung meridian, or deficiency and cold of the lung qi may all give rise to such diseases as nasal obstruction, profuse nasal discharge and nasal polyp.

The stomach meridian of foot-yangming passes beside the nose, and this meridian is the meridian of profuse blood and sufficient qi. Therefore, if there exists heat in the stomach, it will rise to invade the nose along the course of stomach meridian of foot-yangming, resulting in fire-heat syndromes of the nasal region such as epistaxis, nasal furuncle and swelling.

Physiologically, the spleen raises lucid yang and lowers the turbidity. If this function fails, three possible situations may occur: if the spleen qi fails to keep blood circulating within blood vessels, nasal bleeding will appear; if there exists turbid dampness in the nose, profuse nasal discharge will occur; if phlegm and dampness accumulate, nasal polyp will be generated.

The gallbladder meridian of foot-shaoyang distributes tortuously at the rear of the head. There was no such a term as "Bidou" (nasal sinus) in ancient times. However, TCM puts the region of nasal sinus in the broad sense of the category "Tounao" (brain). Accordingly, TCM believes if heat affects the brain, it will give rise to yellow,profuse and turbid nasal discharge. For instance, the chapter of Qijue in the book Plain Questions says:" When the gallbladder transfers its heat to the brain, it will cause Biyuan (rhinorrhea with turbid discharge). The patient suffering from Biyuan has running nose. "Biyuan is similar to acute nasal sinusitis and chronic nasal sinusitis in western medicine.

The kidney controls water metabolism and the five kinds of fluids. Nasal discharge belongs to one of the five kinds of fluids. Asthenia of the kidney often gives rise to running nose; yin deficiency of the kidney may see dry nasal cavity, even atrophy of mucosa, mostly seen in atrophic rhinitis; yang deficiency of the kidney may see profuse thin nasal discharge, mostly seen in allergic rhinitis (anaphylactic rhinitis).

The heart controls mental activities. Therefore the chapter Fortieth Difficulty of the book Nanjing (Canon of Difficulties) says "The heart governs osphresis". Clinically, olfactory hallucination, or nervous anosmia may be cured by treating the heart meridian. The heart controls blood circulation. The book of Suwen Bingji Qiyi Baomingji says "Nasal obstruction can be cured by treating the heart meridian." Clinically, hypertrophic rhinitis may be cured by drugs acting upon the heart meridian and promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis.