A growth made of skin, hair follicles, and fat is unusual anywhere inside the airway. Doctors in South Korea have now reported one in a spot they say has not been described in the English-language medical literature: the lateral wall of a 13-year-old's nasal cavity.
The case, from the departments of otorhinolaryngology and pathology at Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, was published online in February. It breaks two strong patterns associated with hairy polyps. They are typically found in newborns and infants, and usually in the throat rather than the nose.
Skin and Hair Where They Don't Belong
Despite the name, a hairy polyp is not an ordinary nasal polyp. It is a benign growth made of tissues from two embryonic layers, the ectoderm and mesoderm. A 2025 systematic review of pediatric cases describes a typical specimen as a skin-like surface with hair follicles surrounding a core that can include cartilage, muscle, fat, and blood vessels.
The Korean authors describe hairy polyps as benign lesions with limited growth potential. They usually appear in newborns, infants, and young children, although occasional adult cases have been reported, and they are more common in girls.
Almost Always a Young Child's Problem
The systematic review compiled 147 cases from 106 publications. Of those, 89.1% appeared before age 6, and only 4.8% were diagnosed in adulthood. Most originated in the nasopharynx, the space behind the nose, at 42.2%, or in the oropharynx at the back of the mouth, at 40.8%. Girls outnumbered boys nearly three to one, with 106 female and 36 male cases.
In babies, the growths can be dangerous. Respiratory distress, feeding difficulties, or both were the most common presenting problems, reported in 63.9% of cases. The Korean authors list stridor, breathing difficulty, snoring, and trouble with oral intake among typical symptoms. Other reported sites include the palate, tonsils, tongue, Eustachian tube, and middle ear, but these are far less common.
Older children can be affected, and the growths can mislead. A 2024 case report described a 12-year-old girl with more than three years of nasal blockage and discharge whose hairy polyp near the Eustachian tube had a broad, irregular base that closely resembled leftover adenoid tissue. That report put the overall occurrence at fewer than 1 in 40,000 live births.
A 2020 case from Brazil described another teenage exception: a hairy polyp on the tongue of a 12-year-old boy. Its authors found only 10 reports of oral hairy polyps published over two decades, mostly in newborn girls.
A Teenager and the Side of the Nose
The Busan case was unusual on two counts: the patient's age and the location. The authors wrote that hairy polyps arising from the lateral nasal wall, the side wall of the nasal passage, had not been reported in English-language literature.
The lateral nasal wall is a busy stretch of anatomy. It holds the turbinates, the scroll-shaped ridges that warm and humidify air, along with the drainage openings of several sinuses. It is also a common source of ordinary inflammatory nasal polyps, which is part of why a hairy polyp there could be mistaken for something more familiar.
The finding is narrower than it may sound. Hairy polyps have appeared inside the nose before. The systematic review mentions one patient with two separate hairy polyps, one of them in the nasal cavity, and a 2026 report from China described a congenital hairy polyp arising from the back edge of a child's nasal septum, the wall dividing the nostrils. What sets the Korean case apart is a polyp arising specifically from the side wall in an older child.
The published summary does not describe the patient's symptoms or how the polyp was removed. The authors paired the case with a review of the literature.
Why a Rare Location Matters
Unusual sites can make these growths harder to recognize. A child's one-sided nasal mass has a range of possible causes, from inflammatory polyps to congenital lesions and tumors, and a hairy polyp in an unexpected place may not be on a clinician's initial list. Diagnosis is confirmed by examining the removed tissue under a microscope.
Treatment is generally straightforward. Surgical removal is the standard approach across published reports, and the Brazilian authors note that complete removal requires no additional therapy.
A single case report cannot show how often hairy polyps occur in this location. It adds a new site to the list clinicians may consider when evaluating an unusual nasal mass in a child or teenager.
For parents, the practical point is that persistent blockage on one side of a child's nose, snoring, or a visible growth in the nose deserves evaluation by a pediatrician or ear, nose, and throat specialist. Most nasal masses in children are not dangerous, but identifying them correctly guides the right treatment.
Key Questions Answered
What is a hairy polyp?
It is a benign growth containing skin, hair follicles, and deeper tissues such as fat and cartilage, formed from two embryonic tissue layers.
Where do hairy polyps usually appear?
Most arise in the nasopharynx or oropharynx, in the throat region behind the nose and mouth.
Who usually gets them?
Mainly newborns and young children, and girls more often than boys. A systematic review found about 89% of cases appeared before age 6.
What made the Korean case unusual?
The polyp arose from the side wall of the nasal cavity in a 13-year-old, a location the authors say had not been reported in English-language literature.
Are hairy polyps cancerous?
No. They are benign and are generally treated by complete surgical removal.
Published by Medicaldaily.com
