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i wasn't sure if this is the right category, but infected nose piercing.
hi guys, i've had my nose pierced for about two years now, and it gets infected constant. i clean it with rubbing alcohol everyday, sometimes even multiple times a day. does anyone have any suggestions to help prevent this or know why this could be happening? help would be muchly appreciated.
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Want to answer more questions in the Health & Fitness category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Health?
Do not ever use alcohol OR hydrogen peroxide on a piercing, especially an infected or healing one! I can't believe people still say that crap!
Seriously, I've had many, many piercings and I promise I know what I'm talking about. Many people now are misinformed on proper care of a piercing and are leading such busy lives they don't have the time to sit down and research how to handle the new metal in their bodies.
You need to purchase some saline solution first of all. You can find something called Wound Wash Saline from wal-mart that is a good choice, or you could go to your local pharmacy and ask for a saline or salt water solution for wounds and they should be able to help you out (I got a giant bottle for like $1.35 when I went to the pharmacy for such items). It's fairly inexpensive and easy to find.
Next, you take that solution and rinse off your piercing once a day, twice if there a whole lot of buildup on the area. If you do it any more than that, you're going to dry it out, just like you're doing now. When the skin around the piercing gets try, the metal rubs on it and irritates the skin easier. It also leads to natural human reaction of scratching the dried area, leading to more metal rubbing against the (dry) skin.
Next, you need to simply stop messing with the piercing. Nose piercings get infected very easily the more you mess with them and change them out. Leave it alone and things will calm down. Rinse if off (do not twist or pull the stud/ring) once a day and leave it at that. Any time mine got infected was when I pulled on it a lot or changed the stud out so, please, just leave it alone for a couple of weeks to let it heal properly.
When you change our a nose stud, it usually actually rips the hole larger and may bleed if you haven't noticed. The little "ball" end on the inside is larger than the bar (of course, to keep it in) and that ends up doing a lot of damage to your nose, believe it or not. So, pick one stud you can live with for awhile and change it out now and then leave vow to leave it alone for awhile.
Never use alcohol or peroxide on an unhealed (or possible infected) piercing. Both of these solutions sound like a good choice; however, they tend to kill off the cells that are currently helping to health the area. These cells are what takes the infection away from the area to be dealt with and if you kill all of the good cells off, nothing can carry the dirty cells away.
Again, they also dry out the skin and cause the metal to be harsher than it is. All in all, both choices are not good and should be avoided at all costs. As a note, any sort of soap is also a BAD idea for the same drying out reason. Please avoid everything but the saline solution.
This piercing aftercare guide is actually pretty good, and has some neat tips that may be beneficial to you:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Even if your piercing is not new, you must treat it as a new piercing because of the infection. DO NOT REMOVE THE PIERCING. You can end up with a pocket of infection in your nose that will need antibiotics if you're lucky--and lanced if you're unlucky. Leave the stud in and care for it properly and everything will turn out just fine.
I hope you figure out what has gone wrong with your piercing and you're able to fix it with the right solution. If you have any more questions regarding this, please feel free to ask me :)
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you should never use rubbing alcohol!
try using hydrogen peroxide.
or if you can afford to invest in special piercing items then i suggest xpressions piercing spray, and a soap called tattoo goo (it is also suggessted for piercings not just tatoos)
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I just got my nose pierced, like 3 weeks ago, and while I was there, the guy told me not to use rubbing alochol, ear care solution, he told me just to clean it w/ shampoo, once or twice a day in the shower.. and then if i get boogers or something stuck to the ring on the inside, i just use hydrogen proxide, and i put a qtip in it and take it along the ring. so try that and see if it's alright.
oh, and your nose ring should be surgical steel, because no bacteria can stick on it.
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