this seems so silly, but the only facial piercing i have is my nostril. i got it pierced almost a year ago, and the piercer did it with the same hoop i have in it now. i don’t plan on changing jewelry, the ring is exactly what i wanted! absolutely 0 issues healing it as well. my nostril started being sensitive about two days ago and now it’s swelling up :/. the actual piercing itself doesn’t hurt, i can move the jewelry around just fine, and there’s no oozing of any puss or blood from my piercing. it’s JUST my nostril swelling up around it. any idea if i should be concerned or not?
Even healed piercings can act up or get infected. Are you down with a cold? Sometimes that can happen when your immune system drops.
I’m 7 weeks post op from a major surgery, and my 9 year old nose ring has suddenly done this exact same thing. It’s so hard to find any information online for older, healed piercings. I know after surgeries your immune system is weaker but kind of ambiguous for how long.
I had issues with a 30 year old cartilage piercing that hasn’t had jewelry in it for 2 decades. It randomly filled up with fluid and started leaking one day.
That’s wild! I definitely thought we were good as long as we didn’t hurt it, and kept it clean. Can I ask, how long did your piercing act up for? I’m on maybe day 4 myself :/
It was oozing for nearly a month after I got my flat pierced on the same side. The new piercing healed without issues. The old, forgotten hole was a problem. My piercer shrugged and joked it just wanted attention.
Well for starters they should not have pierced you with a hoop, that is very bad practice and I’d advise not returning there…. You are very lucky you are only having issues now. And I’m NAP but it looks just generally irritated you might have bumped it without realizing or when you were asleep. Just keep it clean and monitor it
Huh, both my nostrils were pierced with captive bead rings. I am particular about my piercers and this was the recommendation. But, I am also NAP. No disrespect; would be interested to have piercers weigh in here, as I am now curious.
To OP, I recommend making a little salt solution or getting some saline spray it on as best you can morning and evening for a week or so. Again, NAP so if one weighs in and says different, listen to them. I have two nostril piercings, one is 18 years old (wow she can vote), the second is 15 years old. In other words, they are well established (old af). While they don’t get too spicy, anymore they did get red every once in a while for the first 5 -7 years I’d say. Winter was especially rough, or if I would get sick and would need to blow my schnoz a bunch. Going through some spicy times is normal with newly healed cartilage.
So I’m NAP but I am currently in training to be certified and but have not begun hands on training; so take everything with a pinch of s@lt.
Yes, you can actually pierce initially with a hoop and some nostril angles require such jewelry! BUT there is little to no nuance anymore with piercing in general and not every piercer is fully aware of such nuance with nostril piercings which leads to commonly more irritation, bumps, longer heal time, cheese wire effect, migration, stretching and the fistula has a harder time healing due to the hinge effect of a hoop which is why it’s generally no longer recommended as 8/10 times its not safe.
Lynn loheide has a good article discussing hoop piercings in general from ears, naval and nose with cartilage piercings. https://www.lynnloheide.com/post/healing-with-hoops
Reuploaded to remove banned word :p
Hey thanks for the link and explanation, appreciated!
Good to know and get updated on some best practices. Cheers.
How old is your piercing? just under a year! got it pierced in march 2024 • What's the jewelry shape (for example, barbell, labret, screw, L shape, ring)? it’s a ring/hoop • What's the type of threading if your jewelry is not a ring (threadless, internally or externally threaded)? NA • What's the jewelry material? medical grade steel • if not a ring, when was the jewelry downsized? • What's your aftercare routine? Describe in detail please, including the exact products you use. no aftercare routine anymore. when i first got it done, it was saline spray inside my nose and outside of the piercing. since then i’ve had no issues. • Any mishaps, accidents or unfortunate events? nope!
Since you've healed this piercing with a ring without issues, you are probably fine to keep the jewelry. People are pretty hard and fast with no healing with rings, but some people do have success.
I am not a piercer, but I've been getting pierced since the 90s. I occasionally will have piercings get grumpy. Either I am getting sick or I suspect something like a product or environmental has gotten into the channel and caused irritation.
When that happens I do 2x daily care with a warm water rinse and a spray of saline. If it's in the winter (very dry time), I do saline first, let it sit for a few minutes, and then rinse. After a couple of days everything is back to normal.
My lip piercings I’ve had for nearly 10 years sometimes get irritated and swell up a bit. If you’re concerned you could clean it again with a saline solution
Piercer here. I can see in the photo that the ends of the ring (the seam) are not well lined up at this time so it’s probably irritating your piercing when it moves to the piercing fistula. You just gotta close that up a bit better and give the piercing some time to settle down.
I have a stacked nostril and they flare up randomly
update!! i failed to actually look inside my nose until going to clean it just now. it was a pimple 🙄 it popped as i was cleaning it and the swelling and pain is already down a crazy amount. yes it was nasty.
NAP but I would suggest having it switch for a labret jewelry instead and clean some more with your original aftercare routine! Mine did this when I switched to a hoop for the first time after mine healed and I jut switch back and cleaned it a little longer which helped! This definitely looks irritated!
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