BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Body Art nose piercing healing regimens

8 weeks ago I pierced my nose and would like to remove the stud because I have what I think is a small ketoid (granuloma?) around the bottom edge of the piercing. Obviously, I am worried about scarring and was wondering if it was best to heal a ketoid after the stud is removed or while it is still in my nose? I have heard that sea salt baths work well- but I am not sure how to apply it, any suggestions?
Also, I have read that tea tree oil works well for ketoids, but I have also heard that hydrocortisone cream, aspirin, and hemorrhoid cream works? Any insight? thx!

First of all, if you take out the stud, your nose piercing will heal closed. At the age of two months they are not established well enough to not close up on you.

Keloids are most often caused by friction or trauma to the tissues. Is the stud very tight to your nose? You might try switching to a ring. Hot sea salt water soaks are good, as is tea tree oil.

Hydrocortisone, aspirin and hemorrhoid creams all do not affect scar tissue, which is what is building up around the piercing.

Try reading Nose Piercings II on healing and aftercare, [url=BellaOnline ALERT: For anti-spam reasons, we restrict the number of URLs allowed in a given post. You have exceeded our maximum number of URLs.

The stud was too tight to my nose, sometimes it was almost buried, I think that might be part of it. I did remove the stud and am not particularly concerned with keeping the piercing open. I have done two applications of the sea salt soaks and tea tree oil, some of the redness of the keloid has disappeared, however, it is still raised significantly.
Is it likely that the hole will ooze and puss for a few days after I have removed the stud? Will tea tree oil irritate the hole? I am trying to carefully apply the oil only to the keloid, but am having some difficulty.
Thanks, LL

The description of your stud tells me that friction and not enough air getting to the piercing, along with any fluids from the healing being trapped inside is what has led to your situation.

When you said in your first email that you pierced your nose 8 weeks ago, does that mean that you did it yourself? If so, that's why I tell folks to go to a pro. If you went to a piercer, that person is unskilled and you should not go back there.

Keloids can take weeks to shrink. If you dilute the tea tree oil with a bit of water, it will be less drying to the raw tissues.

You know I went to a professional piercier and am really disappointed with how the piercing was placed in my nose. First, if having flat as opposed to the raised studs is better for the healing process, he should have told me. Many of my friends insisted that a raised stud would heal better and faster. Perhaps my fault too for not doing all of my research before I got it pierced.
I will continue the applications of the sea salt/tea tree oil twice a day and see if i get any results. It has shrunk a bit, it's probably 3.5 to 4mm in diameter so hopefully it won't take more than a few weeks to shrink. Would it be beneficial to apply vitamin E to reduce scarring as well?
LL

I'm sorry to hear that your experience with a piercer went so poorly. Part of why I write this site is to try and help folks help themselves.

My best healing advice is to do the simplest, easiest methods for whatever you are healing. Applying Vitamin E is up to you, based on what you know about how your body heals. I have a low tendency to scar so I have never really used it. I have friends whose skin does scar prominently and they often utilize it while healing.