Ah yes, another TikTok trend gone wrong. Today I present you with the newest thing, which is also partly an old wive’s tale. People on the app are making videos of themselves putting garlic cloves up their nose in order to clear their sinuses. It’s not the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard (putting an onion in your sock is) but it is a new one.
Doctors are asking people to please stop putting the food up their noses. In fact, they recommend not putting anything in your nose at all.
I think that none of these people ever had to go to the emergency room for putting playdoh or marbles up their nose. Hey, don’t look at me it was my little brother. But if they had they might be more cautious about putting things up there.
There is one viral video in particular that is just well, gross? The people in the video put garlic in their noses and then take them out showing snot running out and then accidentally blowing a bubble with it. But you know what else works even better? One of these sinus rinse bottles and they’re actually safe to use and won’t get stuck.
Doctors are cautioning everyone trying the trend. Anthony Del Signore, director of rhinology and endoscopic skull bases surgery at Mount Sinai Union Square in New York told TODAY that, “We typically do not recommend putting anything into the nostril for the obvious fact that it could get dislodged or lodged up into the nasal cavity.” It could cause sinus infections and also at worst require surgical removal.
Again, DO NOT PUT STUFF UP YOUR NOSE.