Teh One Who Knocks
01-06-2022, 12:45 PM
By Asia Grace - New York Post
https://i.imgur.com/kGPNiD1.jpg
Shoving garlic cloves up your nose is snot a good idea.
One of the new year’s most hazardous trends isn’t just odious — it reeks of pseudoscience, experts said.
The harebrained hack has unofficial healers corking up their nostrils with raw garlic cloves for approximately 10 to 15 minutes in attempt to unclog a stuffy snout.
After the user removes the garlic, a flash flood of mucus gushes from their noses, prompting the semblance and sensation of actual decongestion. But what’s really happening is far from therapeutic, Erich Voigt, associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at NYU Langone Health, told The Post.
“It’s terrible,” the ear, nose and throat expert said.
“The body wants to immediately expel the garlic and its chemicals, so it’s creating an overflow of mucus to flush out that irritant,” he continued, noting that the new crop of mucus is adding to the collection of clotted phlegm that originally caused the nasal congestion.
“And because the nose is plugged up, the mucus can’t circulate like it would if you were breathing in and out, it’s just accumulating,” he said.
In other words, that deluge of snot TikTokers observed is merely a product of their own doing. “It’s not the mucus that was trapped in there due to the disease or virus, it’s the production of mucus meant to get the garlic out,” Voigt said.
https://i.imgur.com/TeikCHJ.jpg
Besides, the ear, nose and throat doc added, “It’s not advisable to put any food item up your nose.”
Nevertheless, TikTokers found a way to make the dangerous idea go viral — as they often do. More than 94.9 million clips have been shared within TikTok’s #GarlicInNose genre.
“Garlic in the [nose] does WORK,” one nostril novice said in the title of her garlic-in-nose post. “This is not dangerous the garlic just [cleans] your sinuses out,” penned another in the caption of their clove-to-nose clip, which has garnered over 21.5 million views.
6977720100862430469
https://i.imgur.com/sPyURUx.jpg
But in addition to creating an unnecessary layer of excess snot, jamming garlic into one’s nostrils can also spark an array of abiding health issues such as skin irritation, chemical burns, bleeding, oral cavity burns and severe sinus infections.
“Garlic is a very powerful substance that has chemicals which can cause allergic reactions and damage to the skin or mucosa, which is the mucus membrane,” said Voigt. “And if a small piece of the cloves gets stuck in the nasal cavity, without the person even knowing it’s in there, it could lead to a very bad nasal or sinus infection which could call for extraction through surgery.”
https://i.imgur.com/RskDHK5.jpg
Rather than garnishing your nostrils with garlic in the hopes of unstopping your sniffer, Voigt suggests less invasive decongestion remedies.
“Using a safe saltwater spray in the nose can wash out the mucus,” advised the specialist. “Steam inhalation through long, steamy showers or personal steam inhaler can also be useful because the steam can thin the mucus.”
And for folks struggling with nasal obstruction and loss of smell due to an infection such as COVID-19, Voigt cites smell-retraining therapy by use of essential oils and natural fragrances as a means of relief.
“We’re currently doing research to determine whether natural scent . . . can possibly restore post-COVID anosmia, or the loss of sense of smell, and help mitigate some of the longer-term nasal issues brought on by viral infection,” he said.
The scents that may help restore the sense include orange, lemon, coffee grounds or lavender — but definitely not garlic, he said.
https://i.imgur.com/kGPNiD1.jpg
Shoving garlic cloves up your nose is snot a good idea.
One of the new year’s most hazardous trends isn’t just odious — it reeks of pseudoscience, experts said.
The harebrained hack has unofficial healers corking up their nostrils with raw garlic cloves for approximately 10 to 15 minutes in attempt to unclog a stuffy snout.
After the user removes the garlic, a flash flood of mucus gushes from their noses, prompting the semblance and sensation of actual decongestion. But what’s really happening is far from therapeutic, Erich Voigt, associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at NYU Langone Health, told The Post.
“It’s terrible,” the ear, nose and throat expert said.
“The body wants to immediately expel the garlic and its chemicals, so it’s creating an overflow of mucus to flush out that irritant,” he continued, noting that the new crop of mucus is adding to the collection of clotted phlegm that originally caused the nasal congestion.
“And because the nose is plugged up, the mucus can’t circulate like it would if you were breathing in and out, it’s just accumulating,” he said.
In other words, that deluge of snot TikTokers observed is merely a product of their own doing. “It’s not the mucus that was trapped in there due to the disease or virus, it’s the production of mucus meant to get the garlic out,” Voigt said.
https://i.imgur.com/TeikCHJ.jpg
Besides, the ear, nose and throat doc added, “It’s not advisable to put any food item up your nose.”
Nevertheless, TikTokers found a way to make the dangerous idea go viral — as they often do. More than 94.9 million clips have been shared within TikTok’s #GarlicInNose genre.
“Garlic in the [nose] does WORK,” one nostril novice said in the title of her garlic-in-nose post. “This is not dangerous the garlic just [cleans] your sinuses out,” penned another in the caption of their clove-to-nose clip, which has garnered over 21.5 million views.
6977720100862430469
https://i.imgur.com/sPyURUx.jpg
But in addition to creating an unnecessary layer of excess snot, jamming garlic into one’s nostrils can also spark an array of abiding health issues such as skin irritation, chemical burns, bleeding, oral cavity burns and severe sinus infections.
“Garlic is a very powerful substance that has chemicals which can cause allergic reactions and damage to the skin or mucosa, which is the mucus membrane,” said Voigt. “And if a small piece of the cloves gets stuck in the nasal cavity, without the person even knowing it’s in there, it could lead to a very bad nasal or sinus infection which could call for extraction through surgery.”
https://i.imgur.com/RskDHK5.jpg
Rather than garnishing your nostrils with garlic in the hopes of unstopping your sniffer, Voigt suggests less invasive decongestion remedies.
“Using a safe saltwater spray in the nose can wash out the mucus,” advised the specialist. “Steam inhalation through long, steamy showers or personal steam inhaler can also be useful because the steam can thin the mucus.”
And for folks struggling with nasal obstruction and loss of smell due to an infection such as COVID-19, Voigt cites smell-retraining therapy by use of essential oils and natural fragrances as a means of relief.
“We’re currently doing research to determine whether natural scent . . . can possibly restore post-COVID anosmia, or the loss of sense of smell, and help mitigate some of the longer-term nasal issues brought on by viral infection,” he said.
The scents that may help restore the sense include orange, lemon, coffee grounds or lavender — but definitely not garlic, he said.