A fully healed septum piercing can be removed at any time by gently unscrewing or sliding the jewelry out, a process that takes seconds once you know what type of closure your jewelry uses. The real questions most people have are about timing and consequences: how long you should wait before removing it, whether the hole will close, and what to watch for if something feels off. Those answers depend on how old the piercing is, why you want it out, and whether you plan to wear jewelry again later.
How Long Before You Can Safely Take It Out
A septum piercing typically takes six to eight weeks to heal enough that you can swap or remove jewelry without significant discomfort, though full maturation of the tissue inside the channel takes longer, often four to six months. During those first weeks, the tissue lining the piercing tract (called a fistula) is still forming. Removing jewelry before that lining stabilizes means you are pulling metal through raw, healing tissue, which hurts more than it should and raises the risk of tearing or introducing bacteria into an open wound.
If your goal is permanent removal and you do not care whether the hole stays open, waiting the full initial healing period is still the safest approach. Taking jewelry out of a fresh piercing does not speed healing. It actually makes things harder, because the body may try to heal the entry and exit points while the interior of the channel remains irritated or partially open, trapping bacteria inside. This is one of the more common ways a minor piercing complication turns into something that needs medical attention.
For people who want the option of wearing jewelry again someday, patience matters even more. A well-healed, mature fistula can stay open for years after jewelry is removed. A barely-healed one can shrink shut in hours.
How to Physically Remove the Jewelry
The removal process depends entirely on what kind of jewelry you are wearing. Septum piercings use a few standard styles, and each one opens differently.
- Circular barbells: These horseshoe-shaped rings have a small threaded ball on each end. Grip one ball firmly and unscrew it counterclockwise. Once one ball is off, slide the curved bar out through the piercing channel. If the ball is stuck, try wearing latex or nitrile gloves for a better grip.
- Captive bead rings: A continuous ring held together by a single bead that sits under tension between the two ends. You need to pop the bead out by gently pulling the ring ends apart just enough to release it. Ring-opening pliers designed for body jewelry make this much easier than bare fingers.
- Clicker rings: These have a hinged segment that clicks open and shut. Look for the small hinge point, press or pull the clickable segment to open it, and slide the ring free.
- Seamless rings: These look like a continuous loop with no visible closure. One section of the ring actually has a small gap that you twist open, rotating one end slightly forward and the other back. They can be tricky to reopen without jewelry pliers.
Wash your hands thoroughly before touching the jewelry or the piercing site. If the jewelry has not been moved in months and feels stuck, do not yank on it. Dried lymph fluid or crusty buildup around the closure points is normal and can make things feel seized up. Soaking the area briefly with warm water or a sterile saline solution loosens the crust and makes removal much smoother. If the jewelry genuinely will not budge after soaking and gentle effort, a professional piercer can remove it in minutes with the right tools.
Will the Hole Close After Removal
This is the question most people are really asking when they search for septum piercing removal, and the answer is: it depends on how long you wore jewelry. A septum piercing that has been in place for under a year will usually shrink noticeably within the first day or two of jewelry being out and may close completely within a week or two. One that has been worn for several years develops a thicker, more established fistula that can remain open for months or even indefinitely after the jewelry is removed.
The septum is somewhat unusual compared to other piercing locations. Because the ideal placement goes through the thin strip of soft tissue at the front of the nasal septum (sometimes called the “sweet spot” or columella), rather than through cartilage, the tissue is relatively pliable and tends to shrink inward faster than, say, an earlobe piercing would. But that same softness also means a well-established hole may never fully disappear. Many people who wore septum jewelry for years report that the hole is still visible and can accept thin jewelry years later, even without any effort to keep it open.
If you want the hole to close as completely as possible, simply leave the jewelry out and let the body do its work. There is no cream or treatment that accelerates the process. The opening will narrow from both ends and eventually the surface may seal over, though a small dimple or subtle scar tissue channel underneath the skin can persist. If you want to keep the hole open for possible future use, the simplest approach is to periodically slide a small piece of jewelry through every few weeks, or to use a retainer.
Septum Retainers and Temporary Removal
Many people do not actually want to retire their septum piercing permanently. They want to hide it for a job interview, a family event, or a work environment that frowns on visible piercings. This is one of the septum piercing’s biggest practical advantages: it can be flipped up inside the nostrils and become essentially invisible.
A septum retainer is a small, U-shaped piece of jewelry, usually made of clear glass, bioplast, or surgical-grade metal, designed specifically to be flipped up and hidden. Unlike a decorative ring or barbell, a retainer sits flat against the interior of the nose and cannot be seen from the outside. For people whose workplaces have strict appearance policies, retainers are a far better option than repeatedly removing and reinserting jewelry, which irritates the piercing channel and increases the risk of complications.
If you flip a circular barbell or retainer up inside your nose rather than removing it entirely, the jewelry stays in the piercing tract and the hole does not shrink. You can alternate between hidden and visible positions as often as you like, as long as the piercing is fully healed first. Flipping fresh piercings back and forth during the initial healing period causes unnecessary movement in the wound and slows recovery.
Removing a Septum Piercing That Is Not Fully Healed
Sometimes removal is not a choice you planned. An allergic reaction to the metal, a new job with a zero-tolerance policy, or an infection that is not responding to care can all make you want to pull the jewelry out before the piercing has matured. This situation requires some caution.
If the piercing is irritated but not infected (redness, mild swelling, some crusting, but no pus, no fever, no spreading redness), removing the jewelry is generally fine and the irritation will resolve on its own as the tissue heals shut. Keep the area clean with saline rinses while it closes.
If you suspect an actual infection, the conventional wisdom from piercers and many healthcare providers is to leave the jewelry in place until you have seen a doctor. The reasoning is straightforward: when you remove jewelry from an infected piercing, the entry and exit holes can close over while the infection is still active inside the tissue. That traps the infection and can lead to an abscess, which is significantly more painful and harder to treat than the original problem. A doctor may prescribe antibiotics and advise you on whether to leave the jewelry in as a drain or remove it under medical supervision.
Infections from nasal piercings are uncommon but worth taking seriously when they do occur. In rare cases, bacteria introduced through a septum piercing can travel beyond the local area. One documented case involved a young woman with no prior heart problems who developed bacterial endocarditis caused by Staphylococcus aureus after a nasal septum piercing, with the infection spreading to her heart, brain, kidneys, and spleen.1Europe PMC. Complication of nasal piercing by Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis: a case report and a review of literature Cases like that are extreme outliers, but they underline why “just pull it out” is not always the right first move when infection signs are present.
What to Expect After Removal
Once the jewelry is out, the area may feel tender for a day or two, especially if the piercing was relatively young. You might see a small amount of clear or slightly yellowish fluid weep from the holes for the first day. This is lymph fluid, not pus, and it is a normal part of wound healing. Gently clean the area with saline or plain water and avoid touching it with unwashed hands.
If the piercing was well-healed before removal, you probably will not notice anything at all. The holes will slowly narrow over the following days and weeks. Some people notice a faint smell from the piercing site during the first day or two after removal, which comes from the natural buildup of dead skin cells and sebum that accumulated inside the fistula while jewelry was in place. A gentle saline rinse takes care of it.
Scar tissue is generally minimal with septum piercings placed through the soft tissue sweet spot. Because that tissue is thin and hidden inside the nose, even a visible scar is rarely noticeable to anyone else. Piercings that were placed through cartilage (either by mistake or intentionally) tend to leave a firmer bump of scar tissue, and cartilage piercings are also the ones more likely to have experienced complications during healing.
Re-Piercing After Removal
If you remove your septum piercing and later change your mind, re-piercing is almost always possible, but the specifics matter. If the original hole never fully closed, a skilled piercer may be able to taper the channel back open using insertion pins rather than piercing through fresh tissue. This is less painful than a new piercing and heals faster since the fistula tissue is already partially established.
If the hole has closed completely, the area can typically be re-pierced in or very near the same spot. Scar tissue from the first piercing can make the needle insertion feel slightly different (sometimes easier, sometimes tougher, depending on the density of the scar), but it does not prevent a successful piercing. A reputable piercer will assess the tissue and determine the best placement. In some cases they may recommend going through a slightly different spot if the scar tissue from the first piercing is dense or lumpy.
How long you should wait between removal and re-piercing depends on the state of the tissue. If the old piercing was healthy when you took it out and the surface has fully closed over, most piercers are comfortable re-piercing after a few months. If the piercing was removed because of infection or a complication, waiting longer and letting the tissue fully recover first is the safer path.
Common Reasons People Remove Septum Piercings
Understanding why people take out their septum piercings helps frame the practical advice. The most common scenarios break down roughly like this:
- Workplace or social pressure: Many people use retainers or flipping rather than permanent removal, but some work in environments where any jewelry inside the nose is prohibited, such as certain food service or healthcare roles.
- Lifestyle changes: A piercing that felt right at 22 may not fit someone’s self-image at 35. Aesthetic preferences change, and that is a perfectly reasonable motivation.
- Persistent irritation: Some people’s bodies never fully accept a septum piercing. Chronic irritation bumps, ongoing sensitivity to metals (even surgical steel or titanium), or recurring discomfort during cold and allergy seasons can make the piercing more hassle than it is worth.
- Medical procedures: Certain surgeries and imaging scans (particularly MRI) require the removal of metal jewelry. If you know a procedure is coming, switching to a non-metallic retainer ahead of time avoids the problem of your piercing shrinking during a hospital stay.
For the workplace and medical scenarios especially, planning ahead with a retainer is almost always preferable to emergency removal. Having a glass or bioplast retainer on hand means you are never forced into a rushed decision.
Metal Sensitivity and Removal Decisions
One of the trickier situations arises when someone suspects their septum jewelry is causing an allergic reaction. Nickel allergy is the most common culprit. Even jewelry marketed as “surgical stainless steel” contains a small percentage of nickel, which is enough to trigger contact dermatitis in sensitive individuals. Symptoms include persistent redness, itching, and sometimes a weepy rash around the piercing site that does not improve with standard aftercare.
Before removing the piercing entirely, it is worth trying a material swap. Implant-grade titanium (ASTM F136), niobium, and 14-karat or higher solid gold are all low-reactivity options that most nickel-sensitive people tolerate well. If switching metals resolves the symptoms, you get to keep the piercing. If the reaction persists despite switching to a known hypoallergenic material, the issue may be mechanical irritation or a low-grade infection rather than an allergy, and that warrants a visit to either your piercer or a dermatologist before you give up on the piercing altogether.
MRI Scans and Hospital Stays
MRI machines use extremely powerful magnets, and any ferromagnetic metal in the body is a safety concern. Standard stainless steel septum jewelry must come out before an MRI. Titanium is technically non-ferromagnetic and considered MRI-safe in most situations, but hospital policies vary, and many MRI technicians will ask you to remove all body jewelry regardless of material. The magnetic field can also heat metal jewelry, causing discomfort even if the metal itself is not magnetic.
If you have an MRI or any surgery scheduled, switch to a non-metallic retainer a few days beforehand so you know it fits comfortably and you are not fumbling with it under time pressure. Glass retainers and certain medical-grade plastics are fully MRI-compatible. For emergency medical situations where you cannot swap jewelry in advance, let the medical team know about the piercing. They have tools to cut jewelry if necessary, though this obviously means sacrificing that piece.
Hospital stays of more than a day can also be an issue if the facility requires all jewelry removed and you do not have a retainer. A piercing that took months to heal can start closing within hours in some people. Keeping a retainer in your wallet, bag, or bedside drawer is cheap insurance against losing a piercing you spent time and money establishing.