The tip of nose is red and sore to touch, and now you’re wondering what to do. As it happened for the very first time with you, so you have no idea about what it’s called, the causes behind it, and how you can treat it quickly and block it from appearing ever again.
We got you covered. 😀
Your nose tip can turn red, sore, or achy to the touch when you see little blisters, a redness, or sore dermis. In case the problem persists for more than three days, and you see no improvement in the condition, see a doctor.
Here is all you need to know about Tip of Nose Red and Sore to Touch
Tip of Nose Red and Sore to Touch
The condition known as Nasal furuncles or nasal vestibular furunculosis is a mucocutaneous disorder that’s quite prevalent to occur in the general public.
The ailment, when not treated properly, can lead to head and neck infections due to their relevance to the intranasal carriage. Besides, a recurrence in the symptoms can also be seen.
The symptoms include:
1. Redness:
The tip of your nose will become severe red from the inside and especially outside of your nostrils. Not only red, but you can also feel a slight puffiness on your nose.
2. Tip of Nose Hurts:
When try to touch the red nose, you feel a slight disturbing sensation or a severe pain similar to touching a blister that can further be felt on the nose bone, head, and in extreme cases, neck.
3. Tender Erythema:
Rash like tender, red bumps on the surface of the nose tip that will be sore to touch. Although it is a separate infection however it can occur as a symptom of Nasal furuncles.
4. Nasal Tip Edema:
Another symptom of Tip of Nose Red and Sore to Touch is nasal tip edema, in which you can feel there is some fluid on the tip, causing swelling on your nose and making it painful to touch.
5. Stays More Than 2, 3 Weeks:
The duration of this problem will not be some days but many days and can take 2 to 3 weeks before disappearing on its own. However, the recovery can be hastened using proper treatments.
You May Confuse Its Symptoms With Nasal Vestibulitis
Nasal vestibulitis is another type of infection that occurs in the nasal vestibule, the area in your nostrils around the opening of your nasal passage.
The symptoms include temporary redness or itching in your nose. As it can make the tip of nose red and sore to touch, people confuse it with nasal vestibular furunculosis.
However, these two are different. How? Let’s find out:
Understand The Difference Between Nasal Vestibulitis Vs. Furunculosis
Nasal furunculosis and nasal vestibulitis are two separate infections; both caused due to hair-bearing nasal vestibules.
A furuncle is a painful region of cellulitis that surrounds a hair follicle, whereas vestibulitis is a more widespread condition that frequently results in crusting.
Although nasal vestibulitis goes away in some days, if not adequately treated, the infection can cause serious complications; however, this happens occasionally.
Check some nasal vestibulitis pictures vs. nasal vestibular furunculosis pictures to get a more idea about both.
Once you are sure about the type of problem due to which tip of nose is red and sore to touch, let’s find out the causes.
Nasal Vestibular Furunculosis Causes
A study published in the University of California E-Scholarship explained that three members of the same family have reoccurring symptoms of nasal furunculosis.
Upon testing, some of the triggering causes were found that can cause or make the disorder severe. These causes are given as below:
1. Nose Picking:
Although vestibular furunculosis isn’t contagious, the bacteria on the tip of your finger can trigger the issue, found the researchers.
When the tip of the finger is put inside the nose more than often, it cannot just transfer bacteria to the nasal passage but can also scratch off the skin around, leading to the tip of nose red and sore to touch.
2. Nasal Hair Plucking:
Another symptom reported is hair plucking. Using tweezers to pluck out the nose hairs can be a leading cause of many nasal infections, including vestibular furunculosis.
Tweezers can be contaminated, or the area can be swelled due to excessive plucking or hair with a force that can lead to small blisters leading to nose redness and feeling pain when touched.
3. Nasal Hair Trimming:
Trimming hair using scissors can also lead to this infection. The hair follicle can play a part here. The reasons can be the uncleaned scissor or something else.
4. Weather:
The study also found that these symptoms can even be triggered due to weather conditions. As nasal infections are more common to occur during winters, the same is the case here.
During winters, the chances of getting vestibular furunculosis increase. It can be because of the mucus built inside the nose, nose picking to clear the mucus, or other issues of this kind, such as ear pain in cold weather.
5. Picking Off of Scab Inside Your Nose:
With this, the most common reason for this problem is picking up the scab from your nose, especially the inside area. Scab picking can lead to blisters and redness and eventually result in pain.
Now the best part; let’s hear about what you should do when the tip of the nose gets red and becomes sore to touch.
Nasal Furunculosis Treatment
According to the study published in the UOC journal, the following are some treatments that were used in the past and present to deal with this mucocutaneous disorder:
1. Applying Antiseptics:
Antiseptics made of tincture of mercury and aluminum chloride were used in the past to get rid of the redness at the nose tip and eliminate the pain.
However, as mercurochrome is not generally recognized as safe and effective, its sale is banned. Therefore, using such antiseptics is not prevalent nowadays.
2. Cellulitis Cold or Warm Compress:
Another suggested cure you can perform at home is warm compresses; however, this is also one of the oldest ways of treating Nasal furunculosis.
Make sure the towel or the cloth you select is clean and not damp. You can warm it up using iron and apply it gently at the tip of your nose.
It is one of the most common over-the-counter remedies to treat swelling. Nonetheless, it can be painful and disturbing.
3. Drainage of the Furuncle:
Besides this, if the mucus is built inside the nose tip, swelling is too much, and the drainage of the furuncle can happen.
For this, various methods can be used, including applying a press compress to help the process.
4. Antibiotic Ointment:
Along with this, antibiotic ointments can also be applied on the swelled surface to get rid of the pain and swelling. These antibiotics are made of neomycin, polymyxin and bacitracin.
5. Topical Mupirocin Ointment:
Last but not least, topical mupirocin ointment has occurred as the most effective treatment when the Tip of Nose Red and Sore to Touch. This is also one of the modern treatments to deal with the issue.
Patients responded quickly to this treatment, and pain and erythema started to improve within 12 hours. These ointments come in the form of creams and are applied using cotton swabs twice a day.
How to Stop Reoccurrence of Nasal Vestibular Furunculosis?
Reoccurring symptoms of the tip of nose red and swollen have been seen in some patients, and the signs showed resistance to the typical treatments. What to do in this situation?
Don’t worry. This can be treated too. The extended stay of bacteria can be complicated to treat using over-the-counter antiseptic ointments.
Topical mupirocin ointment can be used in more strengthened ways to treat the problem. It has been seen that prescription-strength topical antibiotic preparation made of mupirocin or retapamulin ointments showed effective results in the patients.
Suggestions
Despite being the most common infection, there is not much work has been done on to find the best treatment for Nasal Vestibular Furunculosis.
It is suggested that further work is needed to find out better and more effective treatments for this mucocutaneous disorder.
For patients, it is suggested that when the problem occurs, they should start its treatment immediately so that it doesn’t get presentment. The longer it stays, the more difficult it will be to treat it.
Also, they should avoid all the bad habits that can cause this issue. Try to keep themselves clean and always use cleaned and washed tools for nasal cleaning.
Bottom Line
Here, our discussion on Tip of Nose Red and Sore to Touch comes to the end. We have discussed triggers, symptoms, causes, and treatments for nasal furuncles. We have also discussed ways and ointments that can help against the reoccurrence of the issue.
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