Hello Rae and fellow posters!

I know others haved posted on this topic, but each person's experience seems to be slightly different and I'm really fretting about mine, so here goes.

I had my nose pierced a few years ago and wore a little stud. It was rather high up on my nostril and it never gave me a moment's trouble. Didn't even hurt when I had it done. After a while I started wishing I had a ring instead of a stud, so I went to have another piercing done underneath it -- it was too far up for me to have the size ring I wanted. It hurt a bit when the needle went through, which right away was different from when I had my first piercing done. But it was okay right after, and I was thrilled with the way it looked.

That was three weeks ago. For a week it was very tender, and then about two weeks ago it started to form a tiny bubble thing above the ring. I know now I shouldn't have poked and prodded the bubble but I was trying to get rid of it. Each time I did the sea salt soak I removed the gooey scabby stuff that had formed over it. Now it seems to be a tiny raw-looking blister. The piercing itself seems fine, and even the blister doesn't hurt. But it looks a little gross, and I'm concerned it will turn into a large round keloid that I've seen on some people's eyebrow piercings.

I called the place and spoke to the guy who did it, and he said that if I didn't care for it it would heal with a keloid bump, but if I continued doing the sea salt soak twice a day it will go away. I do think it looks better now, but it's hard to tell. I'm sure I could just take the ring out and let it heal up, but I LOVE IT and want to save it!

What should I do? I don't mind if it heals with a SMALL bump. I just don't want it to be large or permanently raw looking. How will I know if it's getting better? Are there any other tricks I can try to make the blister go away?

Thank you!
Katie

About this piercing feeling different than your other one, well, the skin has nerves all over and moving just a millimeter can feel different. Ever do that test in high school where you make a grid on your arm and then touch a pin to each of the squares? You'll find that some hurt a bit, some you feel pressure and some you don't feel anything at all.

Given that noses take up to 12 weeks to heal, you've still got a very fresh piercing there. If it's looking better, stick with your care routine and see what happens.

I was doing more research on keloids and discovered one of the main reasons they form is friction. This means that the piercing is rubbing the body tissue in a way the body thinks is irritating and it forms a harder tissue for protection. I'd think noses would get a fair amount of bumping and such, especially while we sleep. Try not to play with it and see if you can sleep face-up more. That might help too.

Thank you, Rae. I'm going to keep up with my regimen and hope for the best. I'm also going to try tea tree oil since I read that you recommended this. Should I dilute it first?

Thanks again.
Katie

If your nose is still in the raw blister state, I might wait a bit before trying it. Using it on really unhealed tissue, even diluted, can cause more irritation and swelling, or burn the tissues.

Tea tree oil is very drying to the skin, and cartilege tissues like noses and upper ears don't take well to it when they are still just starting to heal. My own usage of tea tree oil was on completely healed piercings that had formed keloids.