It-SNot Ripe for the Picking
One of the most common questions I get from younger patients is what's that stuff that forms inside their nose and is ripe for the picking. Well let me put everyone in the know or should I say nose, and tell you what it is and is snot.
It turns out that every day your nose and sinuses make about a quart of sticky slimy liquid every day--a substance we refer to as mucus or snot. Why do we make it? The stickiness in snot is able to trap dust, dirt, germs and pollen so these substances do not travel into the lungs, inflaming them and making it difficult to breathe. When the mucus combines with dirt and other debris, it subsequently dries up and clumps forming what we affectionately call nasal debris or a booger.
When boogers do form, consider it a sign that your nose is working well. If you want to get rid of this debris, the best solution is to blow your nose, and the worst is probably to pick the boogers out of your nose--which deposits germs on your fingers, and can even make your nose bleed as the dried debris is peeled off the inside lining of the nose. It's important to remember that you can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you cannot pick your friend's nose.
When the mucus and debris in the nose do not dry up, it may be because the production of mucus is increased to keep more germs out of your body which is what happens when your nose runs due to a cold, the flu, or allergies or due to overproduction of warm mucus to warm up a cold nose in the winter.
So is there a color of snot we need to worry about? Clear mucus from the nose is normal and means there is not likely to be an infection but may mean if it is excessive that you are dealing with an allergy. White snot usually comes from eating and drinking dairy products since the fat in these products can make mucus thicker and yet still is not cause for alarm and means no infection or a variant of normal. Yellow snot means white cells are being produced to fight off an infection and are mixing in with the clear mucus turning the snot yellow—it can mean a viral or bacterial infection. A darker greener color may mean a bacterial infection with even more white blood cells mixed in which when they die release a green pigment –often seen with a bacterial sinus infection although a virus may also result in green snot but usually not for a longer duration of days—as typical of a bacterial infection that warrants treatment with an antibiotic. Colors may help but don’t mean a specific diagnosis. Reddish brown mucus may mean there is some dried blood in the mix due to too much blowing or picking—and if just a little is not a cause for concern.
So the bottom line is that while boogers may be gross to talk about, they are actually a great filtering system to keep us healthy. Hopefully tips like this will be mucus or should I say music to your ears and allow you to sniff out the benefits of making boogers in your nose each and every day.