You’ve just gotten a nostril piercing! You’ve been following the aftercare instructions that your piercer gave you to a T, making sure to keep it clean and not fiddle with it. You wake up one morning, look in the mirror, and what do you see?? A bump right near the piercing site on your nose!! What is it and what can you do to make it go away??
Don’t freak out! This is very common for piercings. Many people mistake this bump for a keloid, but it’s actually called a granuloma or hypergranulation. A granuloma will appear next to the edge of a piercing, and is raised growth tissue. A keloid is lumpy and rigid, and often need to be removed by a doctor.
Bumps can appear on any piercing, but they’re most common on ear cartilage and nostril piercings. There are a few home treatments that you can try to reduce or get rid of these annoying little things!
- Wash your hands
- Crush up a non-coated aspirin with the back of a spoon
- Add small amounts of water until it’s a toothpaste consistency
- Wash off in the morning
- Apply to the bump at night before bed
- Repeat this for 2-4 weeks until the bump is gone!
Another remedy you can try is applying tea tree oil to the bump.
- Make sure to buy 100% tea tree oil
- If you don’t have sensitive skin, you can apply 2-3 drops of oil to a q-tip swab and dab it on the bump
- If you do have sensitive skin, dilute with a little water, then apply to the bump
Prevention
Once the bump is gone, it doesn’t mean that it’s gone for good! So be sure to take steps in preventing them from popping back up again. Wearing proper fitting jewelry is a big thing you should always be doing. Also do not to bump, hit, or play with your jewelry! When wearing earrings, stay away from butterfly back jewelry. And lastly, do NOT get your ear cartilage or ANY piercings done by a piercing gun! The gun just pushes aside the cartilage, jamming it up, as opposed to a hollow single use needle which removes a small sliver of cartilage, making proper room for a new piercing.
These simple remedies should help with those pesky bumps, but if you’re having trouble getting rid of them, please feel free to stop in at your local Emerald Tattoo & Piercing shop and talk to one of our professional piercers! If you are experiencing shooting pain, your piercing is hot to the touch, or a fever, contact a doctor immediately.
