Do you have reddish raised bumps inside your nose that resemble pimples, yet they are not this form of acne? Did they appear after shaving the hair inside your nose? This could be ingrown nose hair. Let us look at their causes and how to get rid of them effectively.
Ingrown hairs inside the nose mainly occur when one trims or cuts his or her nasal hair.
Ingrown nose hair
I most cases, wrong trimming and removal techniques is what makes it to grow back into the skin. Besides, “sometimes, cutting naturally curly hair too closely will result in the sharpened end of the hair piercing the skin, causing an ingrown hair,” [webmd.com]
Also, it can occur when the hair grows sideways beneath the skin. In such cases, trimming or cutting techniques are not to blame.
Finally, sebum and dead skin cells can clog follicles making the hair to grow sideways beneath the skin. This would result in irritation or inflammation that would lead to bumps on the affected area.
In most instances, ingrown hairs are not a serious problem. However, they can be painful, itchy and even lead to unsightly bumps and a rash. Severe symptoms will only result if it gets infected.
This problem is common in men who have long or a lot of nasal hair and shave it. However, in rare cases, some women also end up with this problem too.
How does an ingrown hair look like? What are the symptoms do you expect?
Since it results in skin irritation, it is normal to expect some raised, red bump that resembles a little pimple. In case of infections, you may end up with redness both from inside and outside. In rare occasions where infections are not treated, you could end with painful sores.
Besides, the red bumps, it could be itchy and cause a lot of irritation. This would urge the victim to scratch their nostrils. Scratching that might encourage infections such as a staphylococcus bacterial infection. Infections will worsen the situation.
To identify them, look at the mirror and if you see a bump with a hair trapped inside it or growing horizontally beneath your nose skin, this could be ingrown hair bumps.
Furthermore, if notice pus-filled bumps on the nose then, you know that there is an infection.
This problem is very common in individuals with naturally curly or coarse hair. These types are likely to grow back into the skin more so after shaving or cutting them.
Therefore, what makes hair to grow back into the skin or grown sideways beneath the skin?
Cutting it too short would make its tip to become sharp and thus there is increased risk of it burrowing back into the skin. You should thus not cut it too short.
Also, the removal tools used such as blade can also irritate the skin leading to the blockage of the hair follicles. This forces it to grow sideways beneath the skin.
Remember, plucking nasal hair using tweezers is also among the major cause of this problem. If you must remove them, then we recommend you use a pair of scissors with rounded ends.
This is another possible cause that closely related to acne. There are many factors that can lead to the blockage of pores inside the nose. Here are the common factors that clog these pores:
Bacterial and viral infections can indirectly lead to this problem. They often result in blisters and would leave behind scabs when they heal. These scabs would force the hair to grow beneath the skin.
Debris inside the nose can also increase chances of ingrown nasal hair. A congested nose is very susceptible to this problem since the debris can force the nasal hair to curl back into the skin. On the other side, they would make it hard for the growing one underneath the skin to penetrate and thus would grow sideways below the skin.
They are not common here since the area outside the nose does not have much course hair as opposed to nostrils. It has very fine strands that hardly will be ingrown. Also, it is not common to remove them.
In case you have it, it will be due to the causes we already have seen. It will also have the same symptoms we have already discussed.
This is not a common area too. The tip of the nose hardly has any course hair. In addition, most people do not shave this area.
In case you end up with bumps due to hair that is in-growing, remember they will be conspicuous and everyone can easily see them.
It is normal for many people to confuse a normal nose pimple to an ingrown hair bump. These two bumps are related. A pimple occurs when pores clog gets infected making it have some pus, be painful and itchy.
Unlike ingrown hairs that appear mainly on your nostrils, you can have pimples on both inside and outside of your nose including on the nose tip and bridge.
These zits are inflammatory types of acne. They tend to be serious than mild forms of acne such as blackheads and whiteheads.
In most cases, ingrown hair usually heals on its own. However, severe cases might need treatments to avoid scarring or the condition worsening.
If yours are severe, it is very important to treat them at their earlier stages. Remember, even after taking all the precautions; you can still suffer from this problem.
Treatments of ingrown hair bump on nostrils will depend on the underlying causes and the severity. Infected ones will need treatments for infections and damaged skin. Mild cases can just be removed be just a simple and gentle scrub of the skin.
Here are the everyday home remedies that can help in dealing with the symptoms as well as help get rid of ingrown hair inside your nostrils:
Dip a clean cloth in some warm water. Insert it gently in the affected nostril to soften the follicles. Re-immerse the cloth in the warm water when it cools and re-apply it again. This procedure should be repeated for about 5 to 10 minutes. It would moisten the skin covering the hair and bring it closer to the surface for easy removal.
After it has come close to the surface, you can gently lift it out using tweezers. Sometimes, it may be infected and thus is usual to see some pus oozing after the removal it.
Simply clean the pus and apply hydrogen peroxide. You should continue to apply hydrogen peroxide twice daily especially for infected cases until the affected area completely heals. Rubbing alcohol and antiseptic creams are a good alternative to hydrogen peroxide.
There are also natural products that can to help treat the affected area after the ingrown hair has been removed. This is to minimize the chances of infection.
Try applying products such as Aloe vera, honey, apple cider vinegar, ginger, baking soda and lemon juice among other products. These properties have various healing products and will quicken the healing of the bump.
These hairs often vanish on their own or can be removed by the above home remedies. However, if they are severe or persist despite the use of the above remedies, then you should see your dermatologist.
He/she would prescribe steroids medications to relieve the swelling. Retinoids would also be administered to get rid of the dead skin cells and reduce the skin pigmentation that would result from the ingrown hair scar left behind. Any bacterial infections would be treated using both topical and oral antibiotics
There is no permanent cure for since this problem can happen again unless you go for permanent hair removal. However, since nasal hairs have many roles, permanent removal would be detrimental.
Here are the ways on how to prevent them:
These bumps are usually caused by poor hair removal techniques and other causes we have seen. You should thus use a pair of scissors or electronic nose hair trimmers. Don’t cut them too short!
Further readings
