Depends on which nose piercing you mean . I have two nostril piercings that use Neometal tm jewelry I haven ' t changed the jewerly in , um , six years ? The first four times I had nostril piercings , I had captive bead rings I did not care for those . I haven ' t felt any need to change my current jewelry it ' s a simple design , and I ' m happy with it as is . I ' ve changed my septum jewelry many times over the last seventeen years I started with a basic captive bead ring , and then switch to circular barbells , a tusk for a very brief period of time , pinchers , and now , mostly a solid titanium plug . I ' ve stretched it up to a 0 ga from the initial 14 ga , so the plug is the most comfortable for daily wear . I have a very nice bone pincher that I wear for formalsemiformal occasions . The jewelry of high nostril piercings just below the bone are likely to be challenging to change by yourself . Piercings through the dorsal cartilage are painful , and difficult to heal .