To be worried about infection??

[ThisNoisyTealLurker]

Hi I think I’m being ridiculous but here goes… I had a white head under the skin around my nose that wouldn’t come out so I (I know I’m an idiot) basically picked it out with some tweezers in a moment of madness. It bled a tiny bit and an hour or so later I decided to bathe the area in salt water to clean it. The day after it’s sort of scabbed over with a sort of yellowish colour. It’s very sore but not overly red or painful, there’s no oozing or anything but of course now my brain is telling me I’m going to get at best, a massive ulcer type boil or at worse…sepsis.
Am I overthinking it? Is there anything I can do to promote healing? I have an important interview Thursday so I’m hoping I won’t look like the elephant man with leprosy.

Bluntly, yes, you're wildly overthinking: you'll have a bit of spot at worst. Slap concealer on if you're that worried.

Sepsis? Fucking hell...

Yabu to panic about infection. But it probably would have been better to have left it alone, as it would have healed quicker and better. You'll be fine though.

Eh? You picked away at your skin and it reacted by bleeding and scabbing over. That is all there is to it. No infection, no sepsis, just your natural biology reacting to you messing about with your face.

(Although, because this is MN, there will undoubtedly be somebody who comes along to say they once did this and then their elbow fell off, their mortgage was recalled and their cat developed malaria or some other castastrophising bullshit.)

Yes this and best get up to A&E now!

It doesn’t help that I recently did a training course about sepsis! Yes I’m most likely overreacting!

to be fair though, the venous drainage of some of the nose does end up in the cavernous sinus (inside the skull) and nasal infections can therefore cause meningitis and brain abscesses. Would take a bit more than a scabby spot to do the job. There are no case reports of elbows falling off though.

Are you and the other lady freaking out as some salad leaves she ate had dirt on it in cahoots or something?

Can I be the first to question whether you have ‘Anxiety’.

Seriously though, total overreaction. My advice is to leave it well alone now as any further tampering will cause redness or further bleeding or scabbiness. Don’t touch it, and then just put some concealer etc on the day on interview if you think needed

Seriously? I honestly wonder how some people make it through the day!

Yes this can cause a serious infection but it will likely not get too bad, just that it can. Yellow scabbing is quite bad, means all germy. If it gets worse you will need antibacterial cream from a GP or dermatologist

By any chance have you recently (or ever) come across the Triangle of Danger/ Triangle of Death facial area myth and this has caused you to be more concerned due to where the white head was?

Blister plasters are mu go to for spots. Cut to size, pop over the zit, go to bed. Will improve so much by morning

I think I'm more concerned you recently did a course about sepsis yet you still think a picked spot is going to cause sepsis.