Piercing Your Septum at Home Safely

Contents

Warriors of the past decorated their noses to intimidate enemies, demonstrate their courage and social standing. Nowadays, a septum piercing speaks of a daring and creative personality. Of all nose piercings, a septum piercing is the most original way to stand out. Let’s discuss the ins and outs of how to pierce your septum at home.

Attention! theYou recommends that you turn to professionals for any kind of cosmetic procedures, especially if it involves a surgical intervention.

What is a Septum?

The septum is the cartilage in the nose that separates the nostrils. A septum piercing is actually a horizontal perforation of the soft tissue below the septum. There are no nerve endings in this tissue, so if you know how to do this correctly, you can avoid complications and pain.

Who can Rock a Septum Piercing?

Septum piercings flatter women and men alike. The main advantage of this type of piercing is that it’s easy to hide. A slight hand movement — and your jewelry piece is hidden in the nostril. This is an important aspect for people who have a strict dress code at work… or a very sensitive granny.

Tip: If you have an elongated nose tip, go for a minimalist jewelry for your septum piercing. Those of us with heavy facial features will be better off with small septum pieces. And vice versa.

Septum Piercing in a Salon

You can get your septum pierced in a salon or at home. We recommend reaching out to a professional piercer who will do this properly and in a sterile environment.

The salon procedure:

A piercer feels your septum to locate the soft tissue and gauge its size and shape to decide where exactly to pierce.
Then he/she marks the spots where the needle should go in and come out of with dots to make sure they are symmetrical.
Sanitizes the spot.
Places clamps on the spot to secure this part of the septum in place.
Makes a piercing with a needle.
Inserts a piece of jewelry, treats the area with sanitizer, and tells you all about aftercare.

Important! If a piercer offers to pierce your septum with a gun, refuse. It badly damages the tissue and leaves a wound that heals slowly. The best tool for a septum piercing is a 14g piercing needle.

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Piercing Your Septum at Home

The procedure of septum piercing technically does not differ from the earlobe piercing one. It’s nothing difficult if you follow certain rules, which is why many opt for piercing their septum at home.

Tools for At-Home Septum Piercing

The main rule is a sterile environment. You should wash your hands with soap, then sterilize your jewelry piece and tools. It’s better to boil them first and then also wipe with sanitizer.

What tools you’ll need:

sanitizer (chlorhexidine, miramistin);
clamps;
disposable gloves without powder;
cotton pads, bandage;
a jewelry piece;
a 14g piercing needle;
a mirror.

Some say that it’s okay to pierce your septum with a catheter. This is acceptable, but bear in mind that the needle in a catheter is thicker than a special piercing needle and your piercing will heal longer.

Important! The diameter of the needle should match the diameter of the jewelry piece and it should be long enough to pierce all the way through.

Step-By-Step Tutorial

Wash your hands with soap.
Sterilize the tools and lay them out on a sterile surface (gauze or bandage).
Clean each nostril with a cotton pad dipped in sodium chloride.
Wash your hands again and put on gloves;
Treat the spot you’re going to pierce with antiseptic on the outside and the inside. Do not use alcohol-based products as they will burn your mucous membrane.
Mark the spot to be pierced with dots.
Place the clamps on the dots, so that you don’t pierce the cartilage.
Aim the needle straight and push it through.
Take out the needle, sanitize the pierced spot. You can put cotton pads with chlorhexidine on either side.
Insert and secure the jewelry piece.
Treat your septum piercing with miramistin.

Can you make a septum piercing at home without special clamps? Sure. Feel the soft tissue under your septum with your thumb and index finger, find the softest spot, pull it out a bit, and insert the needle.

Pain

The pain of getting a septum piercing varies from person to person. What might be completely painless to one might cause great discomfort to another. In salons, piercers try to distract a client with small talk to make them relaxed and do a piercing at an unexpected moment. If you know that it’ll be painful for you, apply an anesthetic ointment or spray before piercing. Or you can take a painkiller 20 minutes ahead of the procedure.

When you insert the needle, you might tear up or bleed a little. Don’t be alarmed, this is a normal reaction.

Aftercare

To keep your septum piercing clean, you will need antiseptic (miramistin) and 0.9% sodium chloride.

Here’s the aftercare procedure in the first two weeks:

Thoroughly clean the nose with sodium chloride.
Put a cotton pad with miramistin on the piercing and keep it there for 30 seconds.
Dip a cotton swab in miramistin and clean the piercing around the jewelry.
Repeat 2-3 times a day.

Two weeks after you’ve pierced your septum at home, drop the antiseptic and keep using only sodium chloride.

Diligent piercing aftercare ensures that your piercing heals well quickly and looks nice. On average, it takes 6-8 weeks. Pain wears off in a couple of weeks.

Important! During the healing process, you can take showers, but it is strictly forbidden to visit saunas and swimming pools or swim in open bodies of water!

In the first month, try not to disturb the jewelry: carefully put on clothes with a collar, do not touch the piece, clean your nose carefully. It’s better not to use concealer or shave the area above your upper lip while the piercing is healing.

Possible Complications

If you follow all the instructions, ensure a sterile environment during the piercing procedure, and clean your septum piercing daily, then you are very unlikely to get any complications. Still, it’s better to monitor the state of the wound carefully.

How do you know that something’s wrong?

You should be alarmed, if after a month you still have the following symptoms:

itching and reddening;
quelling around the piercing;
oozing lymph fluid;
pain.

It’s likely that something went wrong during the piercing procedure, the wound got infected, or you have developed an allergic reaction to a low-quality jewelry piece. If you have any of these symptoms, visit a doctor!

Contraindications

Before you pierce your septum at home, study the relative and absolute contraindications.

Relative contraindications:

intoxication;
a running nose or a cold;
high temperature;
a skin disease.

Absolute contraindications:

diabetes;
epilepsy;
coagulation disorders;
allergy to metals.

Choosing jewelry

How well your piercing heals and looks also depends on the jewelry. Choose a smooth piece made from high-quality metal. If it’s your first septum piercing, go for a piece from titanium, platinum, surgical steel, teflon, or brass. When your septum heals, you can switch to gold, silver, or other materials.

Septum jewelry:

circular barbells, also called horseshoe barbells;
curved barbells with a less intense curvature;
small curved barbells;
ordinary straight barbells;
clicker rings.

Tip: Sometimes balls on the ends of a barbell might be hard to unscrew, because it is stuck or screwed too tightly. If this happens, you can turn to a specialist or try to do this yourself by wrapping the barbell in a cotton pad soaked in chlorhexidine.

Now you know all about septum piercing at home. Are you ready? Then visit the theYou gallery and get inspired.

How to Pierce Your Septum at Home