If you lose the ball from your nose ring, or if you want to change the ball to give your piercing a new look, putting in a new ball can be challenging. In the best-case scenario, you’ll easily snap the new ball in. However, sometimes your ring may be open too wide, which will cause the ball to fall out, and sometimes it may be too tight, which will make it difficult to insert the ball.

Thoroughly wash your nose piercing, hands and nose-ring ball with antibacterial soap. Even though you won’t be moving your nose ring too much as you put in the ball, making sure everything is clean will protect you from infection.

Find the indentations on the ball. These indentations need to line up with the ends of your nose ring. The ring holds the ball at these two points.

Hold the ball with your dominant hand and steady your nose ring with your nondominant hand. Line up one of the indentations with one end of the ring. Lightly press the ball into place until you hear it snap. If the ring is too tight to insert the ball, proceed to Step 5.

Check the ball to ensure that it’s tight enough. To do this, hold your ring steady with one hand and lightly tug on the ball with your other. If it comes out, you’ll need to tighten your nose ring. Proceed to Step 6.

Wrap the ends of needle-nose pliers with soft tape to make sure you won’t damage your jewelry. Steady your nose ring with your nondominant hand and use the pliers to gently pull open your ring.

Push the ball into place and test to make sure it’s in tightly enough. If not, close the ring by lightly pressing it together with the pliers until the ball is firmly in place.