Nose Piercing Risks: Explaining Processes, Aftercare, & Safety Concerns

Whether it’s on the side of your nostril or through your septum, nose piercings are associated with a moderate level of health risks. Infections, which develop from improper aftercare, are present in nearly 25% of individuals following any body piercing. While this may be a fun and trendy method to express your personal style, keep reading below to understand the risks, piercing processes, and aftercare strategies to ensure that you don’t suffer from any debilitating health issues as a result from piercing your nose.

Nose Piercing Health Risks

Before getting your nose pierced, it’s important to determine whether or not you have allergies to silver, nickel, gold, titanium, or any of the other metals associated with this piercing procedure. We also don’t recommend piercing your nose from home or letting a friend do it, even if they claim to know what they’re doing. While piercing professionals generally possess in-depth knowledge of proper techniques, there are still several health risks associated with nose piercings, such as:

• Infections: Being the most common negative side effect from nose piercings, you’ll know your nose is infected if it’s red, swollen, tender, and itchy. Infections are so common following this procedure due to how human nostrils are lined with bacteria that can be harmful if it enters an open wound.
• Nerve Damage: The nose is packed with nerves that, if severed with a piercing gun, can lead to permanent loss of sensations or numbness to areas of your nose. 
• Scarring and Keloids: Occasionally, nose piercings heal improperly which can result in either a permanent scar or a raised keloid bump.
• Communicable Diseases: While rare, this is the strongest reason as to why it’s important to only allow a professional to pierce your nose. As with any open wound, poorly sterilized tools can cause harmful viruses such as tetanus, HIV, hepatitis, and much more to enter your bloodstream.

The Process of Nose Piercing

Fortunately, nose piercings, if done properly, are not nearly as painful or even uncomfortable as they appear. Once you’ve researched options and have selected a professional in your area, you’ll have a conversation with them about where you’d like your nose piercing in which they’ll ask you essential questions about potential allergies and your overall health. During the procedure, the professional usually sets a calm environment and will only use sterile single-use needles to pierce your nose. Afterwards, they’ll walk you through crucial aftercare instructions and hand you paperwork to make sure your new nose piercing heals properly.

Nose Piercing Aftercare

Nose piercings generally take between 3-to-6-months to fully heal. During this time, make sure you’re following the provided aftercare instructions, which commonly includes:

• Cleaning: First, make sure your hands are clean. Second, lather a pea-sized amount of soap on your palms and gently wash your face. During this process, be cautious about not moving or twisting the jewelry in your pierced nose as this can irritate the wound. Finally, completely rinse off the soap and fully dry your face.
• Sanitizing: We recommend using saline spray, although any additive-free packaged saline products should do the trick. Simply rinse the piercing with the spray for around a minute and wipe away any crusted spots with a fresh paper towel.
• Lifestyle Changes: While your nose piercing heals, to prevent potential infections it’s important to not apply any makeup, avoid going swimming, resist playing with or removing your new nose jewelry, and sleeping on the same side that your nose is pierced on.

Long-Term Nose Care

Congratulations! You’ve managed to properly clean your nose and ward off potential infections as your piercing has healed over the past 6-months. Now it’s important to begin taking the proper precautions to ensure that your overall nose health remains strong over the course of your life. Employ the following tactics to ensure that your nose remains healthy:

• Avoid smoking.
• Stay hydrated.
• If dry, squirt saline water into nasal cavities.
• Use a humidifier.
• Use O2 Nose Filters.

While the above tactics help, in truth, preventing harmful particulate matter from entering your nasal cavities is the best way to ensure optimal nose health. Additionally, regularly cleaning your living space of dust and other allergens is vital to maintain the cleanliness of your nasal cavities.

While our nasal passageways try their best when it comes to filtering harmful particulate matter, they aren’t perfect. That’s why O2 Nose Filters are such an effective solution when it comes to improving our nasal health. Nose filters are a discreet, effective option to protect against airborne particulate matter. The O2 Nose Filter uses 3M’s patented AEM™ electrostatic technology to capture allergens, viruses, and other particulates, making them a valuable tool for anyone who wants to drastically limit the pollutants and pollens they breathe in daily.