Hi, I got my nose pierced exactly 2 months ago, it is a nostril screw. For the first while it looked great, hardly crusted at all....then I noticed a HARD reddish bump on the inside of my nose, it looked as if the piercing was coming right through the middle of it.
The only aftercare my piercer had given me was twice a day sea salt soak (which I now know is bad!!). Then a red squishy bump formed around the outside of the piercing, which has been there for quite a while--6 weeks or so.
I called my piercer 2 weeks ago and he said to first try vitamin E (buy the capsules, break it apart, and massage into the bump) this did nothing. Then he said try a tiny dab of hydrocortisone cream once a day and continue with the sea salt soaks once or twice a day. Again this did nothing.
I know you said that a keloid takes months to form, could this be one? The bump on the inside is still hard and round shaped liked a pea. On the outside it is red and a little squishy looking.
After reading this site I am now going to leave it alone and not use anything on it at all, but what are the chances that it could be a keloid?
What we first have to do is to let the body expell all the harsh products that you have been using. So please leave it alone and just wash your face as you normally do.
DO NOT USE SALT WATER, VITAMIN E OR ANY CORTISONE CREAM.
The next issue we need to deal with is the keloid issue. No, you do NOT have a keloid. Your piercing is only 2 months old and your problem is only 6 weeks old. The problem is the salt water soaks as this severely irritates the skin. Each person is different and response slightly different as well. Your body responded quite quickly and will take some time to get rid of them but we will succeed.
What you should notice is that your piercing will start to develop crusties and the bump may even get larger and redder. All of this is normal as your body is expelling all the toxins. Put a cloth with warm water only and place on the piercing. After a couple of minutes, take a Q-tip and remove the crusties formed. Other than this just leave it alone.
Please write back in a week and with your progress and this will help determine if there is anything else we can do to help reduce the bump even faster.
Thank you for the QUICK response...I will write back in a week!!
We hope that it will start to shrink as this helps take some of the stress that also contributes to the problem.
We look forward to hearing from you.
HI again.
So, it has been a week since I stumbled upon this site. I have taken your advice and not put anything on the piercing except a bit of warm water and cleaning with a q-tip. There has been a small amount of crusites that form daily (on the outside), but it is very minimal. It has not changed size and its still pretty red. It looks as if there is a little bit of white inside, kinda like a pimple.
Do you have any advice to help the process move along a bit faster? I know I should just leave it alone to heal...but it's so FRUSTRATING and I am very impatient. I just wanna have a normal looking piercing! Arggggg!
Please help.
You need patience with this piercing when the bump develops. We can see that leaving it alone has caused a reaction with your body and we need you to give it one more week. If by then there is absolutely no change in the size of the bump, we will try something more aggressive.
What is happening with the white stuff is that its fibrous tissue ready to patch up the hole in your nose. Your body is starting to realize that you have something there and do not need the fibrous tissue. The body will start to reabsorb the tissues and the result is that the bump will decrease in size and then disappear.
You have used products that have severely irritated the piercing and it will take about the same length of time for this to be resolved. There is nothing faster.
Please be patient.
