nose piercing

When you write the piercing got infected, could you please be a little more specific.  When a piercing bleeds or weeps, it generally means that something is irritating the piercing.

If you have a nickle sensitivity or allergy, the gold could have the mineral in it and could be causing you some problem.  Check the store you purchased it at.

Is it a nostril screw or a straight stud with a ball at the end?  Sometimes, the jewellery is the problem, especially when you pull on it to remove it.  The bleeding would be because you have to rip it out of your nose and there is no other way of doing this procedure.

The bump you are writing about is something that the body does when you are irritating the piercing.  The body's defense system will send out the white blood cells to combat the irritation.  Once they get there, they remain in the area because you keep irritating the piercing and this becomes a bump.  So the more you bother the piercing, the longer this bump will remain at the site.

You did not inform us if you use a product to clean the piercing?  If you do, PLEASE STOP!!! This is the main problem.  There is no aftercare when a nose is pierced with a stud.

Give us more information and we will do our best to assist you in getting your piercing healthy.

Hi, Its me again, well my piercing finally got better, that was until I change my stud from gold  to a sterling silver one.

It formed what looked like a juicey pimple, after a few days it disappeared, but kept reappearing.  So I treated with some face wash, then stuck a pin through it to squeeze out the pus.  Now its just a lump which looks like a pimple with no head.

Question is should I just leave it alone or remove stud which is now 18c gold, let heal and have it redone?

can you please help?

Sorry that your piercing developed the bump.  Its difficult to comment on why without seeing you but we believe that the jewellery that you changed it to may not have been sterling silver.  It may have been nickle plated and you might have had a type of allergic reaction causing the bump to appear.

You could have also bumped your nose while sleeping or during an activity and it was not 'too serious' but your nose reacted.  Again, we are not completely sure because we cannot see it personally.

What you did to the bump was not a good idea because it only irritated it and this is why you still have the bump.  Our recommendation is to leave it alone and let the body heal the piercing again.  Do not remove the jewellery as the piercing is established.

If the bump does not shrink somewhat in the next week, let us know.

Keep in touch

Hello again, I am very pleased to say that my nose has finally cleared up and lookin good.

Your advise was the best advise given. I left it alone and only cleaned with plain old hot water. I do recall waking through the night after obviously scratching my nose, very painful. That doesnt happen anymore.

Everyone, listen to these guys they are great and give the best advise. This is an A1 informative site.

cheers wendells

Hi There,

I got my nose pierced at the beginning of June and about two weeks ago I got the small bump around the peircing.  I had the piercing done professionally by reputable piercer.  They were very good in my opinion.

I was told to clean the piercing with saline solution 2-4 times a day with a Q-tip.  I have been doing that and it was working fine until about two weeks ago.  I have a stud in my nose with the corckscrew backing.  I called my piercer and they told me to just keep cleaning with the saline solution and use some hydrocortisone cream once a day.

So far it's a tiny bit smaller but still noticable and doesn't seem to be getting much better.  I do recall that I accidentally knocked my piercing twice when my sunglasses got caught on the stud.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated.  I am worried that I may have to take it out and I really would like to keep it.

Thanks in Advance.

PLEASE STOP USING EVERYTHING ON YOUR PIERCING.  The saline solution is what started the problem in the first place.

At our shop, we have found from our experience that doing anything to the nostril piercing was detrimental to the healing.  Salt water is a very harsh product and should NEVER be used on any piercing.

You over cleaned the piercing long enough that the body could not decide whether or not it was healing or riding itself of an irritant.  So the excessive fibrous tissue developed to surround the irritant but since it was pierced the fluid was stored as a bump.  So the more you do, the longer it will be there.  Cortizone cream in our opinion is over kill and please stop using it.

Leave it alone and let the body do its job.  Because of all the damage you have caused, it will take about a week before the healing will commence, so please be patient.

Keep in touch with your progress.

It is a staight 9ct gold stud, 1 you have to bend yourself,I have left it straight because I havent mastered getting the bent ones in.

The infection may only be irritation I suppose, sounds like I maybe cleaning it to much. Ive been using adnohr ear care antiseptic, which is what they gave me to use, but now Ive started to use dettol hygienic wash once a day.

STOP USING THE DETOL, it is too harsh for your piercing.

As long as you are bothering the piercing, you will have problems.  The ear cleaning solution has alcohol in it and this also irritates the piercing.

So everything that you have been doing has been irritating the piercing.  Our aftercare is to do NOTHING to the nostril piercing.  The body takes care of this piericng and we have found that those who do not listen and use any product on the nose, have serious problems that take over 1 month to get rid of.

Please you should not be doing anything especially that is now over 12 weeks old.

thank you so much for you're help, I have found you're site to be very informative  and helpful.

Glad to help.

Hi there,

I had my nose pierced in Oct-Nov. And i still have problems with my piercing. Mine does bleed sometimes when i take my stud out. And i have a bump or a swelling inside my nose which makes it difficult for me to insert my stud.

I also find my nose stud does not sit properly in my nose, and it keeps sliding out. I was told to clean my piercing with saline water at first, then i was using the Savalon anitseptic spray.

Can you please advise me on what to do and which nose studs are the best to use. My nose was pierced with a nose gun. Thanks in advance.

We do not use a gun to pierce the nose, we use a needle and we do not use a straight stud, we use a nostril screw.

There is also no aftercare for this piercing and we have found that those who do clean it with any product, are the ones that have problems with their piercing.

First, please stop cleaning the piercing.  Salt water and Savlon are harsh products and will only irritate the nostril tissues.  This is part of the reason you have a bump inside your nose.

Second, the inserting the jewellery reguarly is only irritating the nose because your stud was either made for an ear lobe or you have a stud with a bulb at the end.  In either case, the jewellery is part of the problem.

We only use the nostril screws because the half circle inside the nose keeps the jewellery from falling out and if you do need to change it, you do not have to damage the fresh tissues to remove the jewellery.

If the jewellery is not sitting properly in your nose, it could be from the stud hitting the bump and that will change its position.  From your description that the jewellery slides out, it is probably a straight stud without any bulb at the end.  The jewellery is for an ear lobe not a nose and will never stay in properly.

Get a nostril screw into your piercing and STOP cleaning and removing the jewellery.

Let the body heal the piercing.  You will notice that for a few days the nose will be showing signs of pussing or even tenderness.  This is normal because of all the damage that you have caused it.  Be patient and just do a hot compress when the situation arises.

Hope we have helped.

Thankyou for your advice. I will definitely take heed.

The jewellery I'm using in my nose is one that was already bent when I bought it. Could you advice me also on where I would purchase a nostril screw?

Also would I have any problems inserting it in my nose as I've read that with a gun your nose is pierced at a certain guage compared to a needle?
Thanks again.

You are correct that the jewellery used with the gun is a smaller gauge than most nostril screws.

Its only one gauge smaller, but some people have found it difficult to insert themselves. You may have to get a piercer to insert the jewellery but we warned that it may be uncomfortable because it will have to be stretched.

If you wish more information about nostril screws, please write to the Email Us address to the left of your screen and we can discuss colours and prices.