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Chronic splitting of skin inside my nostrils

For some reason the skin on the inside of both my nostrils continually splits, heals, and splits again.  I do have allergies frequently which may contribute to the irritation, but I don't understand why this keeps happening to me.  The area affected is the skin inside my nostrils that is bottom most towards my palate.  It never occurs on my septum or on the outer area of my nose.  Also these two splits seem to always occur in the same spots.  They split, hurt, scab over, and heal.  The natural salinity of my nasal secretions adds to the discomfort.  I do have a tendency to pick at the scabs because they itch and annoy me because they look and feel like boogers.  I can actually see where the skin is sepparated when I look in the mirror.  This problem has been going on for many years and I was wondering if there is anything to be done about it.  It drives me nuts!  I hope someone out there can help.
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I had the same problem. I kept applying hydrogen peroxide to the area straight from the squirt bottle. Started clearing up within hours. Maybe a fungus or bad bacteria. All I know, is that it worked.
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I would think that would be very drying for most people.
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I have been getting this.  Think it has to do with an extremely dry, air conditioned work place.  Gets sore, red, nasty.  I have found that using an over the counter lip balm Carmex, helps.  I put some on a cotton swab, smear it all over, covering the sore area.  With in hours, the "scabs" start healing and coming off.  I do this everytime it starts to flare up.  I get a balm in my purse, car bathroom and desk.
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Avatar universal
Betaderm Cream 0.1% (Betamethasone Valerate 0.i%)
APPLY SPARINGLY TO NOSTRILS TWICE DAILY.
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I use the cream called TRIBIOTIC. It's a cream with bit of steroid in it. It does help. I think it's polish brand. You can get it on ebayhttps://www.ebay.co.uk/i/142194243863?chn=ps&dispItem=1&adgroupid=33676502101&rlsatarget=pla-270397377003&abcId=893836&adtype=pla&merchantid=9671944&poi=&googleloc=9045944&device=c&campaignid=707291931&crdt=0
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What is everyone's water intake like?  I know I don't drink enough, that's the first thing I'm going to change to see if my symptoms get better.  Being that it is currently winter, I'm also thinking that might have something to do with my symptoms.

The whole30 theory is interesting though.  I have a sweet tooth, cutting down sugar even more than I have recently is next on the list.
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I HAVE THE ANSWER!!!!! I suffered this painful, nasty condition for more than a decade! And I followed this thread for years, hoping someone would have an answer. My husband got sick last year and when I took him to the doctor, I asked about my nose issue, which was really painful that day. As I came to suspect, it was a chronic MRSA issue (my husband had laughed at me when I told him I suspected MRSA). My PA prescribed an antibiotic cream and almost immediately, I had relief. It took a good week or so to totally disappear, but when it finally went away, I NEVER had it again and that was a full year ago! She prescribed: Bactroban ointment with the active ingredient mupirocin. Good luck folks! I'm leaving you behind now. Try the Bactroban - it's a miracle cure!
Avatar universal
I believe this is some sort of contagious fungal infection.  My boyfriend has had this condition for a long time...he assumed it was from his dry & dusty working conditions.  Those may have made this flare up but I do not believe it caused it.  I seem to have caught this from him and I have had it for about a year now.  It is super painful and all my at-home remedies only work temporarily.  I plan on going to the doctors to get some antibiotic cream and hopefully that works.  
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I have read each and every entry on this subject.  I have suffered from this condition my entire life and have never been given any true diagnosis.  Nothing has ever really worked long term, tho I've tried many of the things listed.  I sincerely believe (in my case anyway) that it is a fungus or a staph infection that is recurring.  I made a lengthy list of the meds mentioned in all of the posts and will try them, one at a time, to try to get rid of my latest crack that has been constant for almost three months!  
Did you find the answer yet? I am very interested because I have the same issue with my boyfriend also.
I have still just been living with this. Can't believe it has been another year and a few months.  Mine is much less painful and it is easier to live with now.  When I was my face at night I also wet a paper towel and clean the cut thoroughly and then make sure to dry the area completely.  That has helped me the most.  I still should mention this to the doctor at some point...I always worry that the infection will spread!
Avatar universal
I also have 2 slits on my nose and have had this for over a year...  I too can't help but pick and pick at it. I don't know what to do !!! It's painful and it won't go... I have had antibiotics creams and all sorts it just won't go !!! It looks horrible as I know it's there, if I mention it to people then they can see them. They heal then I pick them because inside my nose all I feel is it pulling trying to heal and scabing so I pick at then again. Please help!!
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Avatar universal
I cant say what causes it but I know for me what helps is using medicated Chapstick. I use a q tip. The pain goes away almost immediately and it heals in a day or so. I use it several times a day, whenever it hurts. It comes back but having something that takes away the pain sure helps!  Chapstick also helps things that itch stop itching!  (Like bug bites). Also helps little cuts heal.
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Look up Sjögrens Disease. This is a symptom of that.
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Ive had this horrible, painful issue for about 8 months now. I am currently doing the Whole30 'cleanse', which eliminates dairy, sugar, grains, soy, alcohol for 30 days. I am 8 days in, and my nose has healed 100%. I believe its the sugar and/or dairy that is causing it. I know for a fact that allergies can show their faces in bizarre ways, so I would encourage all of you to try eliminating these from your daily diet! What have you got to lose!
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I have this too: My Holistic MD says chronic nose cracks, and dry skin cracks on fingers and toes is a fungal infection due to candida in the body. Cleaning up the diet is critical. I figured it out also because one time I took Nystatin for a skin fungal infection and the nose cleared up too! It did not work again but taking Zand Candida Quick Cleanse works great. When I eat wheat, sugar & dairy it comes back. Candida cleanse & diet and natural anti fungal ointmets and coconut oil and Vitamin E oil. Don't use Neosporin it can injure the cranial nerve that controls the sense of smell.
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1 Comments
Ive had this horrible, painful issue for about 8 months now. I am currently doing the Whole30 'cleanse', which eliminates dairy, sugar, grains, soy, alcohol for 30 days. I am 8 days in, and my nose has healed 100%. I believe its the sugar and/or dairy that is causing it. I know for a fact that allergies can show their faces in bizarre ways, so I would encourage you to try eliminating these from your daily diet! What have you got to lose!
Avatar universal
Hello there!

I am not a doctor, but I am just wondering if you suffer from or have ever suffered from fever blisters (Herpes Simplex 1) on your mouth or elsewhere on your face?   If so, I am wondering if this is the virus simply showing up inside your nostrils (I understand it can show up anywhere near the original site of infection).   If it is a herpes flair up, topical ointments like neosporin will do nothing although cleansing with salt water may shorten the duration.  In any case, I would highly recommend getting a doctor's or nurse's input (diagnosis).
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I have suffered from this issue for several years and it was not a bacterial infection and no antibiotic creams worked for me. I went on a dairy free diet and my nose healed completely after three months. For me it is an allergy to dairy as it comes back as soon as I reintroduce dairy in my diet.

Also I have a painful scalp that is very sensitive and I found that since being dairy free, this has improved a lot.
I hope this helps.
Avatar universal
I recommend using a saline rinse and an ointment like bacitracin. Neosporin doesn't work for me but it may for you. It'll help keep the bacteria down so it can heal.    
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Avatar universal
Yes!! my guess is dairy and or sugar. Ive had this issue for about 6 months now. I am going to eliminate some nasty culprits form my diet asap
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1 Comments
Ive had this horrible, painful issue for about 8 months now. I am currently doing the Whole30 'cleanse', which eliminates dairy, sugar, grains, soy, alcohol for 30 days. I am 8 days in, and my nose has healed 100%. I believe its the sugar and/or dairy that is causing it. I know for a fact that allergies can show their faces in bizarre ways, so I would encourage you to try eliminating these from your daily diet! What have you got to lose!
Avatar universal
You dont have to use a turkey baster (altho its a great idea),there is a thing called a Neil Med nasal irrigator that is designed to rinse the allergens and mucus out of your nasal passages and also moisturize your sinuses. My ENT told me to use it years ago when I had a sinus infection and now I can't live without it. Hubs uses it to. If I slack off, I get the nasal fissures.
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Avatar universal
You dont have to use a turkey baster (altho its a great idea),there is a thing called a Neil Med nasal irrigator that is designed to rinse the allergens and mucus out of your nasal passages and also moisturize your sinuses. My ENT told me to use it years ago when I had a sinus infection and now I can't live without it. Hubs uses it to. If I slack off, I get the nasal fissures.
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Avatar universal
I too have had this for several years, and find as I get older I get paranoid about cancer. It is not. Out of curiosity, how many people that have this issue used a corticosteroid nasal spray???
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You forgot other two
6. Eczema
7, Fungus
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Sailing water should not be used for long time, more than two weeks. It is helpful to treat the infection, sinusitis but it may dry out nasal membranes because of the salt. Many doctors do not realize it but still recommend the sailing water to treat the dry nasal. It is not always to relieve the dry nasal but may cause the nose bleeding worse.  
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I have this same problem for years but I found that when I use triamcinnolone acetonide dental paste it clears it up in a couple days. It stings a little bit but well worth it. You'll need a script for it though.
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Avatar universal
I have found when I have a flare up of splits in my nostril..I do the ...nettie pot but with a "turkey baster"HA I KNOW BUT IT WORKS ..like the bulb irrigation in surgery (use an ear syringe if you want) but ..put about a good teaspoon of un iodized sea salt in cup of warm water...disssolve and ..irrigate rinse your nostrils. Heals them right up and during allergy season...a daily rinse...keeps the splits from coming back. You might even try dunking your nose (leaving your mouth to breath on outside of a cup)..in a mile salt or a capful (1/2 oz ) of chlorox to a cup of warm water . (IS CHLORINE IONS..same as in the ocean water, that medical has found "heals eczema " etc. Google it.. 1/3 cup to bath water doesn't cure it..but heals enough to make tolerable. They think the bacteria on skin keeps the lesions exacerbated.  
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Thank you for sharing about your experience with stevia.  I started having problems with the entrance to my ears becoming crusty, flaking and scabbing. My nose doesn't get crusty, just my ears. I was sweetening coffee and tea using stevia, the equivalent of 2-3 packets a day for about a year. I stopped the stevia a week ago and am noticing healing and improvement. I think that I developed an allergy to it. Like you said it also might be that using stevia was messing with my blood sugar. I didn't feel right on stevia and it also caused stomach irritation after several months of use. Allergy or toxicity, who knows..I'm just glad that the conditions are improving now that I no longer use it to sweeten things. I decided to try regular sugar in small amounts or maple syrup if I'm really craving sweetener.
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Thank you for posting an update!  Very interesting!!
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Wow, I just ran across this page with so many people having this issue with the dry, cracked, splitting skin inside the nostrils. Holy cow, didn't realize I was not the only one dealing with this. Mine started about a year ago after having gone on a low sugar kick where I began using stevia to sweeten everything I was consuming. Stevia in tea, in coffee, in baked goods, in pretty much everything that a sweetener would be used for. Life was pretty good for a while. I was eating tasty stuff and I felt good. I don’t know how to articulate this, but I could feel my body reacting to the stevia by releasing glucose and it was like an odd sensation of my body being starved but not being hungry. My body fat dropped a bit and overall it was good. I attributed that starved sensation to my absolute deletion of real sugar from the diet.
Well, all goodness ended about 6 month in as I think my body developed either an allergic reaction to stevia or something about having your blood sugars messed with in this way caused a problem. I began noticing the dry cracked skin inside my nostrils and immediately stopped everything again because I am very paranoid about diet. No more stevia! It cleared up immediately. BUT… now I get little flare ups depending on my diet. If I have too much bread or sweetened anything it may happen. If I take creatine supplements for a while it may happen. If I take amino acid supplements such as L-Arginine consistently it may happen. Very hard to pinpoint the exact root cause without basically making yourself a lab rat and living a dull life of exclusion. So hard.
I am typically very physically active as well and notice when I am consistently training and burning tons of calories, I have very little problems at all if any with this issue or quite frankly any issue one could complain about. My current Achilles heel though is Bread, because I can’t stay away from it. And I have noticed this dry cracked split skin in my nostrils has come back since I have taken a break from training a lot. I am still active but spend way too much time sitting in a chair in front of a computer. I may have to bite the bullet and once again eliminate this source of carbohydrates from my diet as well.
Just thought I would share… I am pretty convinced that my body’s inability to deal with sugar in the quantities that our modern processed foods feed it to us has created this problem. Wish I knew then what I know now. Would not have drank so much soda or eaten so many donuts, cakes, pies, etc. Doh!  

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