This is as interesting perspective and summarizes a number of points. I am wondering if there is a specific thing that you are trying to figure out? I think what happens over time with ENS depends upon the individual but probably can be put into 2 main categories. I suspect those sufferers that have little or no turbinates tend to get worse over time as the large openness continually deteriorates the nasal cavity. Those with ENS-type that still have remaining tissue may experience some improvement over time as the tissue may slowly heal to some extent (especially with some treatment). Some people with overly reduced but still existing turbinates may fit somewhere in the middle and the healing process is also affected by the type of medical procedure (cutting, cauterization, cyro, etc). Pure atrophic rhinitis is not common these days. I am not quite sure what you mean with the third category below. I would say that if one has ENS then he/she would likely also experience secondary atrophic rhinitis (ie, caused by the surgery) which is different than true atrophic rhinitis (a disease) and thus the healing processes would be different. Thus, it would seem that the healing process would more likely follow the pattern described above for ENS and ENS-type (although I could see your point that someone that has too much discharge could experience that drying up over time).