A member asked:

This is just a bit of a wierd quirk i wanna find out, if i hold my nose closed and try to blow through it air whistles out around my eyes... why?

4 doctors weighed in across 2 answers

Lacrimal tubes: The eye drains into the nose excess tears. There is a plumbing system that does this. It is generally one way but in some air or fluid can be blown or squirted into the eyes by backwards flow. This is sometimes a circus act trick by those who can do this using milk or some other obvious fluid. You have learned to do it with air.

Answered 9/25/2014

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Incompetent valve: Your nasal lacrimal duct (NLD) system (that which drains tears into your nose) has one-way valves so that tears only flow into the nose. Some people's valves are incompetent and blowing the nose causes pressure-induced back flow of "snot" or air back into the eye(s). If you had a procedure to dilate the NLD system in the past, this may have violated the valvular mechanism.

Answered 10/23/2017

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