How long does a nose piercing take to heal? Every placement, stage by stage

A nostril piercing takes four to six months to heal. A septum takes two to three months. Nose placements that pass through more tissue, such as a high nostril or a nasallang, can take up to a year.

The figure people often hear is six to eight weeks, and that is roughly when a nostril piercing starts to look healed. The surface skin seals first, and the outside of the piercing stops looking like a wound long before the channel through your nose has finished forming. Treating the first date as the second is the most common way nose piercings go wrong.

Photo by Paula Rey via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Healing times for every nose piercing

These are typical ranges for a well-placed piercing with the right jewelry and ordinary aftercare. Healing is individual, and the top of the range is normal rather than slow. The healing time chart compares every piercing on the site.

Why the septum is so much faster

A well-placed septum piercing does not go through cartilage. It passes through a small area of soft tissue with a good blood supply, just in front of the cartilage wall, and it sits tucked underneath the nose where very little touches it. Septum piercing healing time has the stages and the smell.

A nostril piercing passes through the soft tissue at the side of the nose, which is a harder place to heal for reasons that are mostly practical. Pillows press on it, towels and tissues catch it, glasses and face masks rest near it, and it is on show, which tempts people into early jewelry changes.

The slowest nose placements are the ones that pass through thicker tissue or more of it. A high nostril sits where the side of the nose is thicker than at the crease, and a nasallang crosses both nostrils and the septum in one line.

A nostril piercing, stage by stage

Week 1. Swelling, tenderness and some redness around the stud. Clear or slightly cloudy discharge is normal, and so is a little bleeding in the first days.

Weeks 2-8. The swelling goes down and crusting starts: dried lymph that collects around the stud and inside the nostril. Occasional itching is part of normal healing. Downsize at four to eight weeks, once the swelling has gone, so a long post is not standing out where towels and pillows catch it.

Months 2-4. The piercing looks healed from the outside. It is not. The channel is still thin and easily torn, and this is the stretch when most irritation bumps appear, usually after a jewelry change, a night of sleeping on it, or a knock.

Months 4-6. The channel matures. Crusting fades out, tenderness goes, and the piercing reaches the point where a first jewelry change is reasonable.

A septum, stage by stage

Week 1. Tenderness and some swelling. Blowing your nose is uncomfortable and may bring a little blood.

Weeks 2-6. Crusting and the characteristic septum smell, which is dried discharge rather than a sign of infection. Downsize at four to six weeks.

Months 2-3. Settled, provided the jewelry has been left alone. The thing that most often stretches septum healing is flipping the ring up and down to hide it, which drags jewelry through the channel every time. A retainer is the better way to hide a healing septum.

How to tell it is actually healed

Do not go by the calendar alone. A nose piercing is healed when all four of these are true:

1. No tenderness when you press gently beside the jewelry.
2. No discharge or crusting for at least two weeks.
3. No redness or pink tinge around the opening.
4. The jewelry moves freely, with no tugging or resistance.

If one of the four fails, wait another month and check again. When can I change my nose piercing? walks through the tests and the first jewelry change.

What slows a nose piercing down

• Changing to a ring too early. A hoop moves constantly in a fresh channel, and the APP says to leave the initial jewelry in place for the entire healing process unless there is a problem with its size, style or material. See nose piercing bump.
• Sleeping on it. Pressure from a pillow pushes the stud sideways through the tissue night after night.
• Touching and turning it. Every touch brings bacteria, and turning the jewelry drags crust through the channel.
• The wrong starter jewelry. A flat-back labret stud sits still. Nose screws, L-shaped posts and nose bones move or have to be corkscrewed in and out. See nose ring sizes for what fits.
• Glasses and face masks that rest on or rub against the piercing.
• Makeup, skincare and sunscreen getting into the opening.
• Colds and hay fever. Repeated nose-blowing is hard on a healing nostril. Be gentle, and rinse with saline afterwards.
• Harsh products. Alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, tea tree oil and ointments irritate the tissue that is trying to heal.
• Low-quality metal. Nickel in cheap jewelry can cause irritation that looks like a healing problem. See nickel allergy and piercings.
• Swimming in pools, hot tubs, lakes or the sea before it has healed.

Can you make it heal faster?

No product makes a nose piercing heal faster than your body heals it. What makes a real difference is not slowing it down.

The routine that gives it the best chance is short: sterile saline spray twice a day, pat dry with clean paper towel, and otherwise leave it alone. How to clean a nose piercing covers the technique, including the inside of the nostril. Add a downsize at the right time and implant-grade titanium jewelry, and you have done everything that matters.

When the timeline stops being normal

Healing is not always a straight line, but some things mean it is time to act rather than wait:

• A bump next to the opening after months of healing is usually irritation with a cause you can remove. See nose piercing bumps.
• Spreading redness, heat, thick yellow or green discharge, or pain that is getting worse can mean infection. See a doctor promptly and leave the jewelry in unless they tell you to take it out. Infected nose piercing explains the difference between irritation and infection.
• Jewelry sinking into the skin, or the stud’s disc pressing hard inside the nostril, means swelling has outgrown the post. See your piercer the same day.
• A piercing that becomes tender again after it had settled usually has a new cause, such as sleeping on it, a knock, or new jewelry. Find it and remove it.

If you want to take jewelry out for a while once it has healed, how long a piercing takes to close explains why a nose piercing can shrink quickly even when it is years old.

Budgeting for the piercing and the jewelry changes ahead is covered in how much is a nose piercing.

A healing piercing should stay out of pools, hot tubs and the sea: see swimming with a new piercing. Most piercings also need a shorter post fitted while they heal, so read piercing downsizing too.

Not medical advice

This page is educational. If a piercing is hot, has spreading redness or coloured discharge, or you feel unwell or feverish, see a doctor rather than waiting it out.

This article is for education only and is not medical advice. If a piercing is hot, swollen, spreading redness, oozing yellow or green discharge, or you have a fever, see a doctor today.