Decisions like getting a piercing done are usually impulsive. At times, the final look doesn’t turn out good, and you wanna get rid of it. So the question is whether a piercing hole can be shrunk or not?
Luckily, shrinking a piercing hole is nowhere near a problem. Unless the piercing hole is too old or too huge, in which case, you might need minor surgery.
A nose piercing hole shrinks very easily and does not require much effort. The approach is different if you want to close your piercing hole completely or just shrink it down to a smaller size.
How to Make the Nose Piercing Hole Smaller?
There are a few methods that can help you make your nose piercing hole smaller. We’ll discuss them right here but let’s start by learning a little about gauge sizes.
What is a Gauge Size?
While getting a piercing, we’re usually quite quick to get the job done without paying much attention to things like gauge size.
But in fact, gauge size is the first thing you should decide while getting a piercing. It decides how thick your piercing hole will be.
So the gauge size refers to the thickness of a jewelry piece.
The gauge size of jewelry can range from anywhere between 00G to 26G. However, typically the most common sizes range from 14G to 24G, with 14G being the thickest size and 24G being the thinnest.
And if we particularly talk about nose piercings, then most of them are done with an 18G needle, which is shifted to a 20G jewelry piece upon healing.
So what can you do with the gauge size to shrink your nose piercing hole? Probably downsize it, right? So let’s see how that can be done.
The most easy way to shrink your piercing hole is to downgrade your gauze.
Downsize the Gauge
Typically, a nose is pierced with an 18G, which is suitable for most people. However, if it doesn’t work for you and you are looking for a way to shrink your piercing hole, then you can remove your initial piece of jewelry.
Replace with a smaller gauge
Then, immediately replace it with a gauge 20 nose ring. This way, your skin will begin to heal and form new cells around the empty space of the smaller gauge. The jewelry options in gauge 20 are super gorgeous, and downsizing the gauge to 20 is going to be a great decision for sure.
Smallest Gauge
However, if you are still not satisfied with gauge 20, then you can move on to the smallest gauge for nose piercings which is 22G. The piercing will shrink in the same by building new skin around the empty space, and voila! Your nose-piercing hole has shrunk.
22G is not a versatile gauge size. It is mostly suitable for people with very petite noses. A 20G is the perfect option for an average-sized nose.
How Do You Close A Nose Piercing Hole?
If you want to close a nose piercing hole permanently, then all you need to do is just take out the jewelry from the piercing hole and wait for a few days. Your piercing hole will close up on its own.
Formation of Fistula
The healing mechanism of the body forms a fistula as soon as the nose is pierced. This fistula takes up to a year to heal completely. If the jewelry is removed while it is healing, then there is a greater chance that your piercing hole will close almost immediately.
Nose piercing holes close relatively faster than other piercings, especially if your piercing is fresh and not healed completely. In that case, it may begin to close within a few hours or even minutes for some people.
Healing Time
The healing mechanism and time vary from person to person. It also depends on the age as well as the immune function of the person. Younger people with stronger immune functions and greater skin elasticity experience a rapid healing action.
However, older piercings or piercings of older people take a little more time to heal because of their weaker healing functions.
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How Long Does It Take For A Nose Piercing To Get Smaller?
As we have stated earlier, the healing mechanism differs for each person. We cannot exactly predict a time span for the healing of your piercing hole. And consequently, we cannot exactly say how long it will take for your nose piercing to get smaller.
However, there are some average healing and closing time periods of a nose piercing. If your nose piercing is less than or at least six months old, it will begin to get smaller/close up within a day or two. Especially the inner side of your nose piercing hole turns smaller very quickly.
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Internal Healing Is Faster
You may still be able to see the piercing spot from the outside, but as soon as you try to poke in a nose stud, you will realize that the healing process has already begun and the piercing hole is no longer functional. Some piercings may even close overnight. This usually happens when the piercing is fresh.
Shrinking time for older piercings
If you have had your piercing for many years, then you can expect a longer healing time or a long time to shrink your piercing hole. In such cases, the body has become used to the foreign object that you call your nose ring. And it takes comparatively more time to start its healing mechanism when you remove it.
After removing or downsizing your jewelry, your piercing hole might stay the same size for even weeks, but that is only when your piercing is old enough.
How To Keep Nose Piercings Open Without Jewelry?
Can Surgery Close a Nose Piercing Hole?
Typically nose piercings do not require much effort if you want them to close. They’re quick to heal on their own by the process we just mentioned above. You really do not need to worry much about closing a nose piercing.
But in rare cases, such as for people who’ve really old piercings or bigger piercing holes, you can resort to minor surgical procedures to close your piercing.
The surgery is simple, and you do not need to fret over it. What happens in the surgery is your piercing professional will remove a tiny piece of flesh from the piercing site.
And then, they’ll stitch it back together to kick-start the automatic healing process of your skin. The body will then work its way around the natural healing mechanism to close and heal the piercing site completely.