From time to time I think about getting my nose pierced. I’d like to get a stud on the left side, as IMHO, they’re very classy in appearance. Anyone on the board have a side piercing done? Are they terribly painful or a PITA (Pain In The Ass) to maintain? How much does/should the process usually run?
Inquiring minds want to know. 
WTF? 32 views and nothing to share… sigh.
I can tell you from personal experience with 20+ piercings and several large tatts that I cried like a…girl…when the piercing guy did my nose. If you have sensitive spots on your face like I do, just be aware that it might not be the easiest piercing, BUT once i’ts healed up, it looks beauitful.
My wife has a nose piercing, and has had it for years. I think they look great.
As far as i can tell, hers takes literally no maintenance now, but of course it is probably different in the days or weeks after you get it done.
My daughter just had one done a month or so ago – do a search on my name for a thread about it. I got a couple of answers.
Now, the rest of her story: She didn’t find that it hurt too badly and she definately liked the way it looked. She got the ‘nasal screw’ type of jewelry with a very small stud. Too small, as it turned out. She had problems with the stud ‘sinking’ into the piercing. We had to keep poking a q-tip into her nose and pushing it back out. Finally, on the third or fourth morning after the piercing, she woke up and the stud had fallen out – it sank so deeply into the piercing that it came through completely and was loose in her nose. When I got it out (no biggie, it was just sort of stuck in there and needed to be pulled out with a tweezer), we found it had a largish clot of crud stuck to it – blood and mucous, it looked like. This explained why we could never get the thing to stay clear of the piercing – it wasn’t (as we had believed) that her nose was swollen, it was that this clump of muck was holding the screw part of the stud back from the inside wall of her nose.
The piercing place said to wait a few weeks, then come back and they would repierce it for free. She hasn’t done it, though – a couple of days before she planned to go back, she fell and scraped hell out of her nose. Nothing serious, it was raining and her crutch slipped. We grazed her nose of a cement bench – no real damage, but she had a big scrape along the top of her nose and some bruising. She decided that God is telling her that now is not a good time to get her nose pierced. So she’s going to hold off for the time being.
Had my nose pierced about three years ago when I was 45…I love it…I’m preety sure I got my last job because of it…(yes I wore it to the interview)
My boss is 30ish…he liked it…ask me if it hurt to get done…didn’t
This should have been: She grazed her nose on a concrete bench.
I had mine pierced 8 years ago, and though I have gone years in the interim without wearing anything in it, it’s still open and I can wear jewelry when I feel like it. I love having it, it’s one of my favorite piercings.
I didn’t cry on purpose when it was done, but my eyes watered uncontrollably. It felt exactly like having a handful of nose hairs plucked all at once. Not painful per se, but not exactly comfortable. I couldn’t get my eye to stop tearing for a good half hour afterwards.
If you wear makeup regularly get used to wearing a little less in that area until it heals fully. Or, look for foundation for sensitive skin. For the first few months it’ll need a lot of TLC. Salt water soaks daily, keep harsh soaps and chemicals away from it (i.e. astringent, facial scrubs), and make sure to clean it whenever you can on both sides.
For the most part, it doesn’t get in the way of anything, but if you swim a lot it may get in the way when you hold your nose.
It will leave you with a lifelong hole in your nose. If you’re ok with that, then go ahead. I wish I had never done mine.
well crap…I intended to post that it needs some daily care to keep it from getting infected…it’s your nose…your nose is your body’s germ catcher.
First, you should always take special care with any piercing until it is fully healed (this can take years for some piercings). Aftercare regimens should include cleaning each side of the piercing daily, if not more often, to loosen blood and lymph that will seep out and keep it from being trapped on the jewelry. Dried blood and lymph that adheres to the jewelry will irritate the piercing and scratch the healing skin around it.
Jewelry should be rotated frequently in order to keep it from getting glued in place by gunk, as well.
Last, the piercing parlor should use a larger size needle and jewelry for piercing than one might normally wear in a healed piercing, in part for the reason mentioned above. Longer, thicker posts should be used to allow the skin some room to swell without the jewelry becoming embedded.
It sounds like the situation above is a factor of poor aftercare practices and bad choice of jewelry for the initial piercing. I wouldn’t let this deter you if you are interested, but make sure you address both things with the piercer you choose.
Well, not necessarily. Whether it ever completely closes up will depend on your own body’s healing and scarring process and how long you had the piercing before you retired it. But, yeah. You’ll probably always be able to tell you had it pierced. As with any time you pierce or cut yourself (intentionally or not) it’s liable to leave a mark.
I advise against getting it. No eprsonal experience with nose piercings beyond seeing them on other people, and they always look horrible and stupid to me. Same goes for eyebrow piercings, lip rings, gauges in the ear and the bolt through the face below the mouth.
I think they look great too, but then I like women with zits on their noses.
Hey, bittersweet
This page gives you some info on healing times, and the entire site is worthwhile reading for the prospective piercee.
I think they look best on black girls and girls of Indian heritage. A nose ring only looks good if the nostrils are broad.
Many white girls’ noses aren’t the right setting for nose rings-- they’re usually more pinched in the nostrils, or even worse, pug-nosed. No one with a pug nose should ever get a nose ring. It just looks bad, sort of like a boogery afterthought.
I got my left nostril done about six years ago, when I was 30. The initial healing had some minor problems, but since then it has been trouble-free. XJET GIRLX and the website suggested by 11811 (especially the ‘aftercare’ section) cover many of the points I was going to bring up.
This might go without saying, but absolutely do NOT allow anyone near you with a piercing gun. The only way to do a proper piercing is by hand with a sterile, sharp hollow needle. It is a good idea to visit a few piercing places and talk to different piercers to make sure you are comfortable with their cleanliness, quality and professionalism.
IIRC, the cost was about $60 including jewelry. The nostril screw will be straight to start with (a plain surgical stainless steel stud is probably the best choice). The piercer will measure your nostril and bend the stem with pliers to fit your nose. After the piercing heals, you may need to get the screw re-bent or trimmed to fit better once the swelling goes down.
The hardest part is simply leaving the piercing alone when you’re not cleaning it. For at least the first year, NEVER touch the piercing without first washing your hands thoroughly. And make sure that your piercer welcomes follow-up phone calls or visits if you have a question or suspect an infection.
Before getting pierced, get plenty of rest and take your vitamins. I caught a very bad cold the day after getting my nostril piercing, and it was uncomfortable to say the least. But, it also taught me that blowing my nose with a nostril piercing isn’t much different from blowing my nose without one.
Lots of good advice here. I’ve had one and had it for…12 years now. Keep it clean, no brass, a hoop is good to start with rather than a stud. And I acutally got it done with a gun - in India, though, so maybe it’s better there. I had no problems with the piercing but they gave me a brass stud to star with, which got infected. Now it’s only 22 K gold, I refuse to wear anything else as it gives me allergies.
More later, when I have time.
I did my own piercing about twenty years ago (I’m 39). For me it was the old “take a shot of Jack, numb your nose with ice and jam the thickest needle you have through it” method. While it worked out just fine for me, I’d say don’t try this at home, especially when there are so many places to get it done professionaly. I can’t remember exactly how long it took to heal, but I know I didn’t have to do too much to it. As someone else said, I went a few years without wearing it and it didn’t close up. Unless you’re looking really closely for it, you can’t see the hole if I don’t have any jewelry in. I’ll also go along with those that mentioned it does take a certain type of nose for it to look good. That’s just an opinion, and shouldn’t stop you if you really want to get one.
I don’t like them, and that in itself is very strange because I have lots of tattoos, including a full leg piece. I guess it’s because every time I see one I get the mental image of the person with their finger up their nose trying to clean it or adjust it or something. I have seen some Indian women who look lovely with them, but I’ve seen a lot of other girls that looked like they messed up putting on makeup.