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By Mayo Clinic staff
If a foreign object becomes lodged in your nose:
- Don't probe at the object with a cotton swab or other tool.
- Don't try to inhale the object by forcefully breathing in. Instead, breathe through your mouth until the object is removed.
- Blow out of your nose gently to try to free the object, but don't blow hard or repeatedly. If only one nostril is affected, close the opposite nostril by applying gentle pressure and then blow out gently through the affected nostril.
- Gently remove the object if it's visible and you can easily grasp it with tweezers. Don't try to remove an object that isn't visible or easily grasped.
- Call for emergency medical assistance or go to your local emergency room if these methods fail.
References
- Foreign bodies in nose or ears. American College of Emergency Physicians Foundation. http://www.emergencycareforyou.org/EmergencyManual/WhatToDoInMedicalEmergency/Default.aspx?id=246. Accessed Oct. 11, 2011.
- Heim SW, et al. Foreign bodies in the ear, nose and throat. American Family Physician. 2007;76:1185.
- Brown JC, et al. Pediatric procedures: Nasal and otic foreign bodies. In: Tintinalli JE, et al. Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide. 7th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2011. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=6393961&searchStr=foreign+body+in+nose. Accessed Oct. 11, 2011.
- Agerter D (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 21, 2011.
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