I started developing a little red bump on my nose after I swapped out the stud for a hoop. On the day of the piercing swap, the piercer said, “If you end up developing a little bump — which is normal and can happen — then use bio oil.” Immediately after he swapped out the piercing, there was no bump. A little red, a little blood, a little irritated: but no bump. However, I wanted to take care of future me and was a bit anxious that a bump would develop — surprise surprise, a bump formed a couple days later — so I had proactively picked up some bio oil from local boots store in London.

Rule #1: DO NOT F*CK with the piercing

Although I resisted any and all urges to fiddle with the nose ring, I made the fatal mistake of using a cotton swab about 2-3 days into it. Around that time, the bump had formed a little blister and there was some residue, some dead skin, lingering on the bump. As gently as possible, I gently rubbed the dead skin off. Unfortunately, the next day, the red bump grew angry, increasing in size that was much more visible and much more embarrassing. Now, it is possible that the bump size would’ve progressed on its own but moving forwards, I had stopped using a cotton swab. Once was enough.

My Cleaning Protocol

1. In the morning, shower and allow hot rinse over entire face
2. In the morning after shower, Spray saline solution directly on nose and hold cotton pad for about 5 deep breathes
3. In the morning after saline solution, put (2) drops of bio oil on nose and hold cotton pad for about 5 deep breathes

And just before bed, I repeated steps 2-3 in the evening again.

Healing Journey

Below are a couple photos I snapped over the couple weeks. At the time of this writing, 19 days have elapsed since I swapped out the nose stud for the hoop. Oh, for some context, I had the nose stud in for 3 months and 3 weeks before switching it out.

I’ll post another update on here in about 1-2 weeks once (hopefully) the healing process has completed.