Nosepicking bad?

Question

My little sister has a bad habit of picking her nose. My mom says that picking your nose can lead to growing a tumor which leads to cancer. Is that true? Is nose picking bad for your health?

Her nails are very short. No unnatural bleeding.

my mom says that in the spring, especially with pollen, that it will go down through your nostrils and stick down somewhere inside of you and grow and grow, resulting in a tumor

Answer 1

It's just to discourage her from doing it. We all do it, we just shouldn't do it in public.

Answer 2

This is just gross, but then again, I guess everyone does it. What I was told when I was younger was that inside your nose, you have those fine little hairs that protect your nasal passages. When you constantly pick your nose, you are also pulling out those hairs and you are more ceceptable (sp) to outside allergans.

Over time of course, because I don't think a hair comes out everytime.

I know when I get a lot of gross hard stuff in my hose, I usually put a little vasaline on a qtip and clean it out and that moistens my nose so I can blow anything out that needs w/o picking.

Answer 3

Sometimes you just have to pick. If you have a dry one clinging to a hair way up in there, it's not coming out without a little digging. So inspect it next time. If it's a crunchy one, you know she has already tried blowing. I would be monitoring whether or not she eats it, to tell you the truth. Oh, the tumor thing is not true.

Answer 4

I suppose if you picked your nose with plutonium on your fingers, it might cause a malignancy.

I did hear a doctor tell people that picking their noses with unclean fingers could transfer viruses they've picked up into their nasal passages, thereby resulting in a cold. So washing one's hands prior to and after picking nasal plaque might be a good compromise.

Kids also tend to cause nosebleeds by overly aggressive nose-picking, so she should be careful.

An alternative is to use a nasal spray bottle with water, followed by just plain nose blowing (gently). If plain water is too harsh, you can add a small amount of salt to achieve a 0.9% solution (look up "isotonic saline solution").

Answer 5

That's like saying that lifting weights stunts your growth, something a mom says to scare you away from doing something. Why would it cause a tumor, mucus is made by our bodies and drains into the back of our throats anyway when we have a stuffy nose. It's just bad etiquette.

Answer 6

Nose-picking is very common. It occurs in adults as well as children and in both sexes. Nose-picking is considered socially unacceptable in this and most, if not all, cultures. Everything that comes out of the body like the contents of the nose or bowel, spit, and menstrual blood are all considered unclean. The nose-picker is thought to exhibit personal uncleanliness and therefore is "disgusting".

Answer 7

Lol, picking your nose is nasty and can lead to nosebleads, but I dont think it will grow a tumor and lead to cancer. Lol.

Answer 8

No tumours... Jesus lol. Picking your nose cleans it out i guess so that's good, but then your body has to produce mucus and use energy... Also the skin cells on the inside are replaced more often. (more reproduction= more chances to mutate=more probability for cancer)
Although the increase would be so small.. it be like getting a cut and saying you are gonna get cancer from it ahaha.

Answer 9

So long as she picks them without irritating the inner lining of the nose she is OK. We NEED to pick our noses in the bathroom when nobody sees us. It's NATURAL. How else can anyone remove the dust,dirt and debris that settles inside there? You need to breath right? Well picking your nose is a way of clearing out your air passages.

Answer 10

I think that if it were true we would have alot of people walking around with big tumors hangin out of there noses! Its a fase she will grow out of it sooner or later, Lets hope sooner.

Answer 11

Thats an old wive's tale. I pick my nose all the time and yet no tumor.