Hi. I’m Dr. Alan Greene and I would like to give you a tip for how to use
nasal sprays that contain medications.
This is especially useful for the steroid nasal sprays that are used to treat allergies,
but also true for the ones you’d use for a cold or other things as well.
Now, the middle part of the nose between the two nostrils is called the septum
and it’s got cartilage in there and a lot of blood vessels where nosebleeds typically come from.
And when the medication squirts straight into the septum
that can cause side effects - irritation, bleeding, and other things like that.
Now, most of the time when people use a nasal spray what they will do
is either use the same hand for both sides,
or use one hand for the nostril closest to you and one for the other.
I’m going to suggest you do just the opposite of that.
You take one hand and squirt into the other nostril. When you do that,
you naturally point the stream away from the septum and avoid the side effects.
It’s a simple trick that works really well.