Help me heal my nose

October 13, 2011 5:37 PM

What do I do to moisturize my nose?

I have had an infection in my nose twice, with soreness and pricking pain, treated with hot compresses, antibiotic ointment and saline spray. I am seeing an ENT. The main symptom now is dryness -- I have hardly any nasal mucus. I am still using the saline spray.

(1) Is the saline spray actually helping? It helps with the discomfort, but I'm worried that in the long run it is making things worse, like washing your hands too much. I try to be as gentle as I can with it.

(2) Do I have atrophic rhinitis? The descriptions of it on the Web sound terrible.

(3) I have to take a 5 hour plane flight next week. What can I do to stave off the assault of airplane dry air?

posted by bad grammar to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

Boroleum ointment works for me.
posted by plokent at 5:51 PM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

I put vaseline up my nose and smear it around right before I go to bed when I have dry nose issues. Works for chapped lips, works for dry noses. Not the cherry or flavored kind, the plain stuff. It works all night while you are sleeping. I suppose I should say that this is for the parts you can touch on the inside of your nose, not your sinuses or anything.
posted by molasses at 5:55 PM on October 13, 2011 [3 favorites]

Try Ayr Saline Gel. I actually use it for my daughter who just turned four. It is safe and it will keep you moisturized. You might want to try some Neosporin or some store brand triple antibiotic ointment for your trip. I know, so much stuff to stick up your schnoz, but it is better than being miserable. You need to drink more liquids as well, you are dehyrdated.
posted by Yellow at 6:12 PM on October 13, 2011 [3 favorites]

I get all sorts of sinus problems if my bedroom is too dry in winter -- my nose and sinuses dry up a lot. Running a vaporizer at night completely fixed things, and was CHEAP.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:38 PM on October 13, 2011

for the flight, breathing through a LIGHT BREATHABLE cloth bandit-style seems to help. I spent a lot of a flight under a blanket- worked for the light, helped with the humidity of the air I was breathing.

Lightly over you, not strapped on, and remove if you feel like you aren't getting enough air.
posted by titanium_geek at 6:50 PM on October 13, 2011

Use only water-soluble products in your nose, such as the one Yellow suggested above. Don't use vaseline or an antibiotic ointment that's based on petroleum jelly inside your nose. It will go down your throat, and can accumulate to cause lung problems.
posted by Ery at 7:19 PM on October 13, 2011

Ayr Nasal Saline Gel. I use the spray first, then the gel, but the gel is what's doing the real work.
posted by HotToddy at 7:32 PM on October 13, 2011

Like many suggested above, saline rinses are good, no matter what brand. They helped my viral sinusitis. Also, you could try inhaling hot steam from the running hot water.

Online descriptions and symptoms are confusing and terrifying, they don't help diagnosis. If you have the time, go see a physician/doctor to look it over.
posted by easilyconfused at 8:41 PM on October 13, 2011

I've had nasal dryness problems my whole life living in a high altitude desert.
I've tried just about everything, heeding medical advice to avoid putting too much ointment up there which could be drawn into the lungs and create further problems. That said use any ointment very sparingly... spread it around and work it in (reverse nose picking?).

I recommend vitamin E ointment such as Carlson Key-E. In my parts it is sold in health food stores and vitamin stores. I chose this stuff specifically due to it's lack of any odor or fragrance. However it does tend to start to start smelling like petroleum after it ages, so use it fresh.
posted by No Shmoobles at 8:49 AM on October 14, 2011