How to take care of your nose piercing and treat it when it gets infected

Having a new piercing is exciting, but it can also quickly become a nightmare if it becomes infected after the piercing. Some people are susceptible to infection, but there are a few simple steps you can take to prevent your nose piercing from becoming infected.

Table of Contents

Heal your nose piercing

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Professional piercing. People in the body transformation community know that there are right and wrong ways to get piercings. You need to go to a reputable establishment and experienced piercers. Your piercing will heal and heal much faster if you take the time and effort to go to a professional. Moreover, the piercer will also give you useful advice on wound care after piercing. Some factors that help you have a safe piercing include:

Empty piercing needle. Professional piercers use these needles because they are hygienic and easy to handle, helping to create piercings that are straight and in the right position, allowing for faster wound healing. ^{[1] X Research Source}
Avoid using the piercing gun. Because they are often more painful and less accurate, piercing guns are not usually used for nose piercing. In addition, piercing guns are sometimes more difficult to clean, which can easily spread blood-borne diseases. ^{[2] X Research Source}

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Wash your hands when handling the piercing. You need to wash your hands with antibacterial soap every time you touch your piercing. Pre-existing oils on your face and secretions from new piercing wounds (clear, sometimes bloody), plus dirt on your hands can lead to infection.

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Leave the jewelry in the piercing. Once you have a nose piercing, you should not remove any jewelry from your nose for at least 6-8 weeks, which is the average time for the wound to heal. The only time when jewelry needs to be removed is when there is a problem with the size or material of the jewelry. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

If you want to change your jewelry while the piercing is not fully healed (6-8 weeks after piercing), you should contact your piercer and ask them to help.

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Wash your piercing regularly. You need to be gentle with your new piercing. First, you should use a cotton ball or cotton swab to wipe away the scabs that may form around the wound. You may think alcohol or hydrogen peroxide will help kill any bacterial cells, but they can also kill healing cells on and in the nose, so don’t use such strong antiseptics. A safe and easy way to wash your new piercing is with salt water. Sea salt dissolved in water forms a mild and effective salt solution. You can either dip a cotton ball or cotton swab in salt water to clean it, or soak your nose piercing in a large bowl of salt water. If soaking your nose piercing, you should soak it for 5-10 minutes, at least once a day. ^{[4] X Research Source} After soaking, you can rinse your nose with clean water to remove any remaining salts from your skin. To make a saline solution at home, you need:

1/4 teaspoon non-iodized sea salt
1 cup warm water (distilled or bottled water)

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Watch for signs of infection. Sometimes the wound has an obvious infection, but other times the infection can be subtle. When you first get your piercing, you may initially experience bleeding, swelling around the wound, pain, bruising, itching, irritation, and a yellowish (not pus) discharge from the piercing. Discharge can form a crust on the jewelry, but this is normal and does not cause a problem. Knowing the difference between a normal side effect of a piercing and signs of an infection will help you treat the infection more effectively. Some of the most common signs of an infected piercing include:

Persistent itching and/or redness even after normal healing time
Continued pain and soreness after normal recovery time
Feeling hot, burning
Yellow-green fluid, such as pus or blood, oozing from the wound
Wounds smell bad ^{[5] X Research Source}

Treating an infected piercing

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Review the symptoms. Infections and allergic reactions can have similar symptoms, so the best way to tell them apart is to know the difference between the two. Allergic reactions often cause intense burning sensations, enlarged piercings (as if trying to avoid metal jewelry), and discharge that is yellow but clear rather than yellow-green. If you suspect an allergic reaction, you should go to your piercer right away so they can change your jewelry, and then see your doctor.

Some metals cause allergic reactions, so it’s best to use high-quality metal piercings, such as those made of surgical steel, titanium, platinum, niobium, and pure 14k or higher gold. ^{[6] X Research Source}

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Maintain hygiene. Continue to wash the wound with soap and water or saline to kill the bacteria causing the infection. Nasal piercings can become infected due to a number of reasons such as the entry of pathogens (bacteria and fungi), wearing jewelry that is too tight, or due to poor hygiene. Remember to continue washing the wound regularly until it is completely healed (usually 6-8 weeks after piercing).

READ More: How to Get Slender Arms

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Try home remedies. If the infection doesn’t seem too serious, you can try to treat it yourself at home before going to the doctor. Here are some treatments you can do at home:

Applying warm salt water helps increase blood flow to the area of infection (more blood means more infection-fighting cells), and this can help the infection heal faster. ^{[7] X Research Sources}
A cold compress can help reduce swelling, pain, and soreness near an infected piercing. Just like when you bump your knee against the edge of a table, you can reduce bruising by applying a cold compress. Remember never to apply ice directly to the wound. Direct contact with ice can cause skin damage. You need to wrap the ice pack in a tissue or cloth before applying it to the wound. ^{[8] X Research Sources}
Apply Roman chamomile tea bags . Drop a chamomile tea bag into warm water and soak it for about 20 seconds, then apply it to the wound. Leave it on for about 10 minutes or until the tea bag cools. Once the tea bag has cooled, you can dip it in warm water and apply again. ^{[9] X Research Source}
Apply aspirin . Put a few aspirin tablets in a cup (about 4-6 tablets) with a little water so that the medicine dissolves and forms a paste. Apply the paste on the infected area every night before going to bed and watch to see if the symptoms of the infection subside. Aspirin is an anti-inflammatory, so it can reduce swelling, help heal the infection without much risk of irritation, and still allow fluid to drain. ^{[10] X Research Source}

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Avoid using strong disinfectants. You should avoid strong antiseptics when washing the wound, and with an infected wound, even more should be avoided. People with infected piercings should stay away from substances such as alcohol, tea tree oil, betadine, hydrogen peroxide, and methyl alcohol, as scars and bumps are more likely to form around an infected piercing if you use these substances. . ^{[11] X Research Source}

The strong chemicals can cause more discomfort due to the burning sensation, and they also kill infection-fighting cells.
Other antibacterial ointments can interfere with air flow to the infected wound and slow the healing process, so if you do use it, you should also limit it. ^{[12] X Research Source}

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Find medical care. If your infection doesn’t go away or does not improve within a few days (up to a week), it’s best to see your doctor and let him or her know the details of your condition. Going to the hospital or clinic of a dermatologist and general practitioner is best, but if that’s not possible, your second option is to see the practitioner who gave you your piercing. ^{[13] X Research Source}

Nose piercing care

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Be careful not to irritate the piercing. You should be careful when putting on and taking off your clothes. It can be very painful if your new nose piercing gets caught in your clothes when you put it on or take it off. Take a few extra minutes when changing so you can take it easy and avoid hooking up your nose jewelry.

Some people lie on their side with no piercing or use a pillow to prop their neck up to avoid irritation during sleep.

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Do not let cosmetics stick to the piercing. While waiting for your piercing to heal, you should avoid using lotions, makeup, or cleansers that can get into your piercing and stay there. If any product gets into your piercing, wash it off immediately with warm salt water. ^{[14] X Research Source}

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Avoid exposing your piercing to unsterilized water. Water sources such as lakes, private or public pools, and hot tubs can contain pollutants and cause infection for the nose piercing. If you need to be exposed to water sources that may contain contaminants, you should seal your piercing with a waterproof band-aid. This bandage is available at drugstores. ^{[15] X Research Source}

Advice

When taking a shower, keep your nose under the tap. Hot water will help “wash away” the bacteria in the nose piercing.
Elevate your head while sleeping to reduce swelling.
Higher solution concentration will not be better; Too strong a saline solution can cause irritation.
Never use a thick cream that will clog your piercing.
Vitamin E oil is very effective in preventing scars and keloids because it is absorbed into the skin.
Use a clean t-shirt to cover the pillowcase and turn it over every night. A t-shirt has 4 clean sides for you to change into.

Warning

If you have sensitive skin, you may want to wash less than 2-3 times per day to avoid irritating your piercing.
Never use mineral oil-based products like Neosporin. Also, you should not use alcohol, hydrogen peroxide or pure iodine to clean your piercing.
Infection at the nose piercing site can be very serious, leading to meningitis or brain abscess.

Steps

Heal your nose piercing

Treating an infected piercing

Nose piercing care

Advice

Warning

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