This is to those recommendations for flight passengers that she gave Ancha Baranova. She suggested applying a thick layer of petroleum jelly to the nasal mucosa. It is like a mechanical protection against a virus and from drying out.
In fact, there is no such prevention method.
First, the nose cannot be protected with ointment. The inside of the nose is slightly larger than you think. The turbinates are bizarrely curved and extend to the center of the head. You can't miss it all with Vaseline.
If it was possible to protect with petroleum jelly, then they would do so for any cold. But they don't. Not to ward off the virus, nor to ward off dryness.
Secondly, the nose protects itself from viruses. Mucus, cilia, antibodies, everything.
Lubricants don't help. There are no such recommendations in nature. This is pure fantasy. And harmful.
But there may be harm
Petroleum jelly does not cause nasal irritation or allergies, but it does not dissolve either. It does not dissolve and slowly flows down the throat. Then we swallow it. But petroleum jelly particles can get into the bronchi.
If, after entering the stomach, petroleum jelly is naturally excreted, then it has nowhere to go from the lungs. These drops of petroleum jelly gradually sink into the very depths of the lungs and provoke inflammation there.
In children, it can be as real as pneumonia with cough, shortness of breath and fever.
In older people, this is all not so bright, but coughing and shortness of breath can bother for a very long time. This is called lipoid pneumonia or pneumonitis.
There is even such a concept of "paraffinoma". That is, something like a paraffin tumor. Because petroleum jelly is liquid paraffin. It is delimited by connective tissue there, and a dense scar is obtained.
All these sores usually occur from prolonged use of petroleum jelly, but even after a single thick smear, you can choke on petroleum jelly once.
In short, don't do that. Petroleum jelly should not be put into the nose. Or have you already shoved it in?
