Close-up of the 18pointthree Magnetic Nasal Strip frame worn across the nose

Reusable Nose Strips: How Magnetic Nasal Strips Work and What to Look For

Magnetic nasal strips are the reusable nose strips of the category: you keep the band and replace only the patches. Search for them in Australia and you get a wall of listings between $7 and $72, most of them describing the same thing in different words. This is a plain explanation of what you are buying, what the magnets do and do not do, and what separates one of these from another.

What a magnetic nasal strip is

It comes in two parts.

The first is a rigid band, sometimes called a frame or a bridge, that sits across the outside of your nose. It holds magnets at each end. You keep it and reuse it.

The second is a pair of small adhesive patches. One goes on each side of your nose, just above the flare of the nostrils. Each patch has a metal disc inside it. You use a fresh pair every night and throw them away in the morning.

The magnets snap the band onto the patches. That is the whole product.

How they work

The patches stick to your skin. The band clips on and pulls outward on both sides, which holds the sides of the nose open while you sleep.

The part worth being clear about: the magnets hold the band to the patches and nothing else. They do not add oxygen, they do not do anything to your blood, and they carry no benefit of their own. Anyone selling you magnetic therapy is selling you something other than what is in the box. The magnets are a fastener.

What does the work is the mechanical lift. The internal nasal valve is the narrowest part of the nasal airway, with a cross section of roughly 40 to 60 square millimetres, and it accounts for half to two thirds of the resistance in the whole nasal airway. Open the narrowest point a little and air moves through more easily. This is the same principle behind the ordinary adhesive nasal strip that has been sold in chemists for decades.

How they differ from an ordinary nasal strip

A classic nasal strip is one piece. A flat spring runs across the bridge of your nose with adhesive along its whole length. It goes on, it works, and in the morning the whole thing goes in the bin.

A magnetic strip splits those jobs. The springy part becomes a rigid reusable band. The sticky part becomes two small patches.

Three differences follow from that.

Adhesive contact. A classic strip is glued across the bridge of your nose, which is thin skin. A magnetic set only sticks at two small points on the sides. People with sensitive skin often notice that.

Consistency of lift. A spring band relaxes as it warms and flexes through the night. A rigid band holds the same shape from the first hour to the last.

Sizing. A classic strip flexes to fit almost any nose. A rigid band does not, so the width has to match your nose. This is the single most common reason a magnetic set disappoints somebody, and it is why the better kits ship more than one size.

Neither type is better than the other in a way anyone has measured head to head. They are different trade-offs.

Six things worth checking before you buy

1. Is it on the ARTG? A nasal breathing aid sold in Australia for snoring or congestion is a medical device, and it belongs in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. A lot of what sells here, especially through overseas marketplaces, is not on the register at all. A brand that holds an entry will print the number. If a listing claims to help with snoring and cannot give you a number, that tells you something.

2. How many sizes come in the box? Noses vary by more than most brands admit. A kit with one size is a bet on your nose. A kit with four lets you find yours on the first night.

3. What do the refills cost? The band is a one-off. The patches are forever. Work out the price per night of the patches on their own, because that is the number you will actually live with.

4. Can you buy refills separately at all? Some brands only sell complete kits, which means you rebuy magnets you already own every time you run out of patches. Check that a patches-only pack exists and check its price before you commit.

5. What is the adhesive? Look for hypoallergenic, latex free and fragrance free. If you have reacted to tape before, this matters more than anything else on this list.

6. Where does it ship from? A $12 set from overseas takes three weeks and has no Australian seller behind it if something goes wrong.

What they cost to run

Price per box tells you very little. Price per night tells you everything.

Take the cost of the starter kit and set it aside, because you buy that once. Then take the cost of a pack of patches and divide by the number of nights in it. A 30 night pack at $30 is a dollar a night. The same pack at $20 is 67 cents. Over a year that gap is $120.

Then check the other direction. If a brand does not sell patches on their own, your real running cost is the price of a whole new kit every month, and the comparison changes completely.

Who should not use them

Magnets and pacemakers do not mix. If you or the person you are buying for has a pacemaker or any implanted medical device, this is the wrong product and the manufacturer will say so.

Keep the bands and the patches away from children. Small magnets that get swallowed cause serious injury, and more than one swallowed magnet is a surgical emergency. These are adult products and should be stored like one.

If your skin is broken or irritated where the patches go, wait until it heals.

Snoring that comes with gasping, choking or heavy daytime sleepiness is worth a conversation with a GP rather than a purchase.

How to check the ARTG yourself

The register is public and it takes about a minute.

Go to the TGA website and open the ARTG search. Put the number the brand gives you into the ARTG ID field. The entry that comes back names the sponsor, the manufacturer, the class of device and the registered intended purpose, which is the list of things the brand is allowed to say the product does.

Read that last part. If a brand is advertising something its own entry does not cover, you have learned quite a lot about the brand.

What we make

We make one. The 18pointthree Magnetic Nasal Strips kit ships with all four band sizes and 30 patches, and the Refill Patches are sold on their own so you never buy the magnets twice.

It is included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods under ARTG 530972, a Class I medical device listed as a nasal breathing aid, external. The sponsor is Calen Construction Pty Ltd, ABN 22 693 119 327, trading as 18pointthree. The registered intended purpose is to support nasal airflow, reduce snoring and provide relief from nasal congestion due to transient causes or structural abnormalities. Put 530972 into the ARTG search and read it for yourself.

If you would rather start with something simpler, our Nasal Strips are the classic single-piece kind and sit on the same ARTG entry.

The short version

A magnetic nasal strip is a reusable band plus disposable patches. The magnets are a fastener and nothing more. The lift is what matters, sizing is what makes or breaks the fit, and the running cost lives in the patches rather than the kit. Before you buy, ask for the ARTG number.

Sources

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