2w ago

After you blow your nose, do you look in the tissue?

Edit: I had someone comment one time when I did, and it was kind of weird and embarrassing? But it seemed like a fairly normal thing to do, so I thought I'd ask.

38 comments

Are there people that don't?
- Yes, and they're either sociopaths, or were born with a critical lack of curiosity.
  
  Okay this is entirely unrelated but your "born without a lack of critical curiosity" really hit home for some reason.
  Whenever I go to a store that has stuff I find generally interesting, I feel the need to touch it, just so I know what it feels like. I had an ex who hated whenever I did that, like she thought I was a toddler trying to look at and buy everything. It really made me feel bad.

Yes. Excess of green or yellow mucus could be indicative of strep throat or a cold. If there's bleeding, that's a sign of worse.
- Blood is most likely just a minor nosebleed due to nosepicking or simply vulnerable tissue. No need for panic. If it happens more often than not, then simply check with a doctor. And still no need for panic.
  
  My left nostril bleeds pretty much every time that I blow full-blast. I have to be gentle to avoid it.

Lots of people talking about monitoring health, I just look because I'm curious lol
- In the modern day, sometimes it's just nice to be able to say "I did that!".
  Same reason I look in the toilet.
- Someday there might be brains there, so I agree!

Just checking for blood

Yes. And we always should. The colour of what is coming out can hint how far/how bad you might be on a cold, as well as the consistency. Knowing if you're losing blood or clots is also important.
- Yes for same reason, plus sometimes I feel like something came out and it hadn't so I know I need to blow again.
  
  The following can be filed under the "too much information".
  My airways act very weird when I get a cold or something is afecting my air ways. My nose tends to feel clogged but I have nothing to discharge, even if I feel the need to. I often have to force ouy whatever there may be backed up in there, often to the point I get light headed and/or dizzy. The first wave is usually clear and very low in volume. The second wave often brings out a deluge of yellow greenish mucus (good sign) or a blob of green greyish stuff, often with blood spots or small strikes (very bad). The third wave makes my ear pop and causes me to start coughing and pull up more gunk that then start to flow without the need for me to try to blow my spine from my back.

Yes, I need to make sure that what's in the tissue matches what I felt fly out of my nose so I know it's not stuck in my beard.

If I didn't look how would I know what kind of infection I have?

Yeah man, gotta know if there's blood or not.

I don't. I felt it come out, I know what it's gonna look like.

If I feel something more solid than snot hit the tissue, I'll check.
You never know when it might be bloody sinus tissue again.

Maybe this time rubies came out, I won't know until I check

Yes, for three reasons.
I judge the color to be sure I'm not getting sick and it's just a regular need to blow my nose.
I check for the presence of any blood, since I work around materials and in environments that can cause alot of dry air, giving me a higher incidence of nose bleeds.
My work environments are very dusty, and if Inhave alot of black or grey dust when I blow my nose, I know I need to clean my airways when I get the chance so the dust isn't in there longer then a day.

Yes. The color of the mucus is informative for Chinese medicine. I don't have the full details of it, but if it's transparent, that means you are dealing with "cold" infection, and you should use herbs that are "hot". Oppositely, yellow means "hot" infection, and you should use "cold" herbs.
If you use the wrong herbs and fail to balance it out, the infection gets worse.

Not only is it normal, but as some other posters have mentioned, it is a good habit to be in. This may be a hot take but people should also look at their toilet paper after wiping and at their poop before flushing.

Yes, maybe a Burglarobbit came out me nose, gotta check.

Ya. Don’t you care at all about your health? Why wouldn’t you check?

Yeah, kinda helpful in monitoring health.
You won't find anything unusual 99% of the time, and usually not even when you add .9 with a bunch of extra 9s behind that. But when you do find something, it means you can be proactive in handling it.
Not that everything shows up in mucous that can be wrong with your sinuses, or that things can't ramp up faster than you can detect a change.
But it's still useful to check.