A passenger on the plane decided to stick duct tape to her nose. This was caught on video and was later posted by TikTok. The footage puzzled and shocked users, Newsweek reported. The post posted by @reganellisx on March 11 has gained over 24.2 million views.
The message superimposed on the clip read as follows: “POV: You had surgery on your nose, so you need to tape your nose when you fly.” The footage shows a woman sitting in the cabin of an airplane and gluing a tape to the bottom of the nose, fixing the ends vertically on the sides. She then applies several stripes horizontally across the bridge of her nose. The author of the recording shared in the caption: “What kind of looks I didn’t see when I did it.”
As the heroine of the video later explained in the comments, despite the unusual, sticking tape on the nose is recommended if there was an operation and you have to fly. This is necessary to fight edema. This was confirmed to the publication by a Canadian expert, Hani Sinno, a plastic surgeon from the Victoria Park Medispa Clinic in Montreal.
“When patients fly on an airplane, especially in the first week or two after surgery, I really suggest my patients wear a ribbon, especially the steri strips,” he said. The doctor explained that “after septorhinoplasty or any surgery, flying an airplane will change the pressure your body is exposed to.” These pressure changes are equivalent to edema changes because “the lymphatic system– the body’s drainage system that maintains normal fluid levels – has low pressure in it, so pressure changes will have a significant effect on the lymph vessels, which affects edema.” He explained that the strip strips are applied tightly from top to bottom, “so if there is swelling, the tape minimizes it due to its stretching ability and prevents any swelling in this area.”
Indeed, air travel can significantly affect our health in various ways. For example, a study published in April 2023 in the medical journal Cureus showed that some of the health problems and risks faced by commercial airline pilots include lower back problems and venous thromboembolism (blockage of blood flow by a blood clot) due to prolonged sitting, cardiovascular diseases, fatigue, sleep problems and psychological stress.
And a 2015 study on flight attendants published in JAMA Dermatology noted that “pilots and flight attendants are professionally exposed to higher levels of cosmic and UV radiation than the general population.” The study concluded that “pilots and flight attendants are about twice as likely to have melanoma,” which is the third most common type of skin cancer, compared with the general population.
However, users did not appreciate the recommendations and actions of a traveler with an adhesive tape on her nose. “I’ve had 3 nose surgeries, and I’ve never glued my nose in flight. I haven’t heard about it before”, “I had surgery on my nose, and I’ve never done it”, “If you don’t do it, does it fly away or what?”, “Will the nose lose its balance and fall if it’s not glued? Just curious,” they left such comments to the tourist.
For those who value a healthy lifestyle, we recommend reading: “From ulcers to gums – what the mouth says about human health and when to worry.”
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