What size nasal dilator do I need? A UK fitting guide

Step 1What size nasal dilator do I need?

What size nasal dilator you need depends on the type, because brands size them in three different ways. If you're still choosing a format, our magnetic vs adhesive guide compares them.

Three ways dilators are sized

• Against the width of your nose. Magnetic clips and bands (Airlift, Intake, JINLVYUYI and others) sit across the front of the nose, so their sizes follow how wide your nose is at the bottom.
• By a brand's own guide or a trial pack. Internal dilators sit inside the nostrils. Silent Mammoth uses a side-on measurement, Rhinomed offers a printable sizing guide for Mute and Turbine, and Airmax tells you to start small.
• By pack size, or one size. Adhesive strips come in a size per pack (Breathe Right) or one size for everyone (MaxFlow, and Breathe Right Extra Strength).

Sizes exist because noses vary. In a 2017 study using 3D face scans, the average width across the nostrils ranged from narrowest in women of Northern European ancestry to widest in men of West African ancestry, and men's noses were wider than women's on average in every group.^[1] A 1,470-person international study found nose width differs significantly between ethnic groups.^[2] Noses vary in shape too, and a 2002 study of adhesive strips found the benefit of a nasal strip depended more on the overall shape of a person's nose than on any single measurement.^[3]

We found no study of whether a better-fitting dilator works better, or of fit, sizing or slippage for clips, bands or internal dilators. We could also find no published, independent study of any magnetic nasal dilator, including Airlift's. A 2026 review by UK surgeons reached the same conclusion.^[4] So choose a size for comfort and for a clip that stays put. Our science page sets out what has and hasn't been studied.

Sizing an Airlift clip

Airlift's method, from its help page on finding your size and its fitting guide, is a dry fit before any sticker comes off its backing:

1. 1
   Hold a clip to your noseHold the centre of a clip between two fingers and rest the bottom of your nose between the wings.
2. 2
   Check where the wings landIf each wing just touches the outside of a nostril, that's your size. If it pinches the sides of your nose, it's too small. If there's a gap between a wing and your nose, it's too big.
3. 3
   Work up from the smallestTry each size in turn, breathing in with each one held in place, and compare.

If you sit between two sizes, Airlift's advice on sizes for sleep and exercise is to take the larger one for sleep and the smaller one for exercise. For strips and clips in sport, see the best nasal strips for running.

Every Airlift box has all five clips. Airlift gives each clip's internal width at the wing tips: XS 26.7 mm, S 28.7 mm, M 31.0 mm, L 33.6 mm and XL 35.9 mm. Those are gaps inside the clip, not nose widths, so they don't tell you which size a nose of a given width needs; the dry fit does that.

If your clips aren't with you, for example when you're ordering a spare, Airlift's printable size gauge has five paper notches cut to those widths. Airlift says a real clip against your nose is still the better measurement.

Sizing magnetic bands from other brands

Intake Breathing makes six band sizes, S1, S2, M1, M2, L1 and L2, and its starter has the middle four. Healf, which sells Intake bands in the UK, lists widths of 29 mm for S1, 32 mm for S2, 35 mm for M1 and 38 mm for M2. If S2 is too big or L1 too small, Intake sends a free S1 or L2 on request, but a UK buyer pays the international postage. Extra 2-packs cost £16, or £20 in clear, on Intake's UK store. Intake's own pages describe the starter's sizes in more than one way, so check which bands you're getting. Our Intake Breathing UK review has more.

Airo puts four band sizes in its kit. Its product images name them S2, M1, M2 and L1 in one place and S, M, L and XL in another, and it publishes no measurements.

On The Nose Co and NoseStrip each put four band sizes in their kits, without naming or measuring them.

JINLVYUYI, on Amazon UK, puts four sizes in the box and gives widths of 32, 37, 40 and 42 mm.

Brands don't measure their bands the same way, and Airlift's figures are an internal gap at the wing tips, so these numbers aren't like for like. Our best magnetic nasal strips guide compares the whole magnetic line-up.

Sizing internal dilators

Mute comes in Small, Medium and Large. The Starter Pack, £14.99 on Rhinomed's UK site and Amazon UK, has one of each, and Rhinomed's FAQ says women are often Small or Medium and men Medium or Large. Its returns policy says sized packs can't be exchanged for fit, though its FAQ says to contact Rhinomed if you bought the wrong size by mistake. Rhinomed offers a printable sizing guide.

Turbine, Rhinomed's sport dilator, has the same three sizes and the same policy on sized packs. Its Starter Pack is £16.99 on Rhinomed's UK site and Amazon UK.

Silent Mammoth comes in Small and Large, chosen by a side-on measurement from the tip of your nose to the crease where the nostril meets your face: 23 mm or less is Small, 24 mm or more is Large. The inch figures it gives alongside don't match those millimetres, so go by the millimetres or ask the brand.

Airmax comes in Small and Medium, which the brand says differ by 5 mm. It says 80% of users wear Medium, but advises starting with Small. Its Trial Pack has one of each, at £14.75 on Amazon UK.

Our Airlift vs Mute comparison covers internal dilators in more detail, and the best nasal dilators in the UK compares the brands.

Sizing adhesive strips

Breathe Right Original and Clear come in Small/Medium or Large packs, and Extra Strength comes in one size. Breathe Right's own pages disagree on which size suits most adults, and its FAQ says not to cut a strip to fit; buy the smaller size instead. MaxFlow sells one size, which it says suits most adult noses. Our Breathe Right alternatives guide compares other strips.

Sizing at a glance

Where other brands make sizing easier

• Intake makes six sizes, so the very smallest and largest noses have more options, and Healf lists its band widths. Intake also offers free live video fitting help.
• Mute and Turbine put all three sizes in one Starter Pack for £14.99 or £16.99, and nothing sticks to your skin.
• Breathe Right Extra Strength has no fitting step at all, and you can buy it on the high street.
• Silent Mammoth gives a measurement you can take at home.
• Airmax puts both of its sizes in a cheap trial pack.

Where Airlift makes sizing easier

All five clip sizes come in every box, so there's no size to choose at checkout and nothing to post back if your first guess is wrong. If a clip goes missing, a spare clip set in all five sizes is £20 from the refills page. The £33 Complete starter has all five sizes, 30 nights of stickers and 30 prep pads. On the Complete Annual plan, every subscription order ships free by next-day delivery, with no minimum spend.

Step 2Clean and dry the skin

Airlift's advice is to wipe each side of your nose with a prep pad, or with soap and water, and let it dry fully. Its fitting guide adds that skin that feels dry to a quick touch very often isn't, so give it another minute or two in the open air.

Airlift's prep pads are alcohol cleansing pads that clear skin oil before the stickers go on. Complete and Ultimate come with 30 pads for every 30 nights.

If you have stubble high up beside your nostrils, Airlift suggests keeping a sticker-sized patch trimmed close, because adhesive bonds to hair rather than skin. And if stickers lift, Airlift's help page on stickers that won't stick says that's almost always the skin, not the sticker: night cream, moisturiser, facial oil or naturally oily skin. Nasal strips that stay on has more fixes.

Step 3Find where the stickers go

Airlift's fitting guide divides your nose into thirds. The top third is bone, so nothing goes there. That leaves the middle and lower thirds, and two fingertip tests help you pick one before any sticker comes off its backing:

1. 1
   Test the middle thirdPut a fingertip on each side of your nose, about halfway down, and pull gently outward as you breathe in. Do it a few times so you remember how much air you felt you got.
2. 2
   Test the lower thirdRest a fingertip under the tip of your nose and lift it gently as you breathe in. Again, do it a few times so you can compare.

Whichever test felt like more air is where your stickers go. For the middle third, turn each sticker so the cutout faces in toward your face. For the lower third, turn the cutout down toward your nostril and sit the pair lower, nearer the tip. If you can't tell the two apart, Airlift says to start with the middle third. The help page on where the stickers go has the full method.

Step 4Place, press, then wait

This is how to apply magnetic nasal strips in Airlift's order, from its help page on applying Airlift and its fitting guide:

1. 1
   Place one stickerPeel one sticker and place it on the outside of your nostril in the zone you tested, in a mirror. The magnetic applicator holds the sticker while you position it, but fingers work too.
2. 2
   Place the other, level with the firstRepeat on the other side, keeping the pair level with each other.
3. 3
   Press each one firmlyPress each sticker down for a few seconds, around the edges and on the steel disc in the middle.
4. 4
   Wait two to three minutesLeave the adhesive to settle before the clip goes on. Clipping on straight after pressing can pull a sticker half off.
5. 5
   Replace a sticker that lands wrongIf one goes on in the wrong place, peel it off and use a fresh one rather than lifting and pressing it back.

The steel disc in the middle of each sticker is what the clip's magnets attach to. The sticker covers the disc on the skin side, so the metal doesn't touch your skin.

Step 5Clip on, then check the fit in a mirror

Slide the clip on and let the magnets find the discs. It should open the nostrils without pinching. Then check two things in the mirror before you turn the light off.

First, are the two stickers level? A crooked pair tilts the clip upward toward the bone. If one sits higher, Airlift's fitting guide says to peel it off slowly and place a fresh one rather than sliding it.

Second, is the clip sitting low, on the soft part of your nose just above the nostrils? Low is right. If it presses on the bony bridge, your stickers are too high: take them off and place the pair lower, rather than nudging the clip down onto stickers in the wrong place.

Airlift describes these signs of a wrong size or placement once you're wearing it:

• Pinching, pressure on the bridge or soreness in the morning means moving the stickers lower, or going up a size. Airlift's help page on a clip pressing on the bridge covers this.
• A gap at the wing, or a clip that drifts in the night, means trying the next size down.
• A light red mark that fades within a couple of minutes is normal.
• Broken skin, or a mark still there hours later, means changing size, adjusting where the stickers sit and giving that spot a night off.

Step 6Take it off, and what you can reuse

Take the clip off first, sliding it sideways. Then peel each sticker from its top edge downward, low and slow, with a finger of your other hand supporting the skin. Airlift says the easiest time is after washing your face or in the shower, because warm water softens the adhesive, and that warm soapy water takes off any residue. Its help page on removing the stickers has more.

How do you reuse magnetic nasal strips? You reuse the clip and the applicator. Each pair of stickers is single use, one pair per night. Once you own a clip, Airlift's 360-night stickers pack is £182, or £0.51 a night.

If the fit still isn't right after all that, the 90-Night Airlift Test lets you email within 90 days of receiving your order for a full refund, including delivery. You keep the clip and send nothing back, and it's once per customer.

Questions people ask