Mute vs Breathe Right
Open your nose from the inside, or from the outside? Two popular fixes for nose snorers.
Quick verdict
Start with Breathe Right strips as a cheap, simple test of whether opening your nose helps. Move to Mute if the strips irritate your skin, don't open your nose enough, or you'd prefer something reusable.
Choose Rhinomed if
Mute Nasal Dilator
- ✓Adhesive strips irritate your skin or don't stay on
- ✓You want something reusable rather than single-use
- ✓You don't mind something sitting just inside your nostrils
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Choose Breathe Right if
Breathe Right Nasal Strips
- ✓You want the cheapest, simplest first test
- ✓You'd rather not put anything inside your nose
- ✓You only need help some nights, such as with a cold
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Both of these are for nose snorers: people whose nasal passages are narrow, collapse easily or are often blocked. When less air gets through your nose, you have to pull harder to breathe, and that extra suction can make the tissue further back vibrate. Open the nose, and for some people the snoring eases.
They just open it from opposite sides.
Breathe Right strips sit on the outside. You stick one across the bridge of your nose, and its built-in springiness gently lifts the sides of your nostrils outward. They're cheap, easy to find and easy to try, which makes them a good first experiment. They're single-use, though, and the adhesive can irritate sensitive skin or lose its grip on oily skin.
Mute sits on the inside. It's a small, soft, adjustable frame that rests just inside the nostrils and holds them open from within. It comes in different sizes, with a starter pack to help you find yours, and each one can be reused for several nights. Some people find it more effective than strips; others can't get used to the feeling of something in their nose.
A sensible approach is to try strips first. If opening your nose makes a clear difference, you've learned something useful, and you can decide whether to stick with strips or try a dilator for comfort or cost over time. If strips make no difference at all, your snoring probably isn't starting in your nose, and a dilator is unlikely to help either.
Neither will help snoring that starts in the jaw, mouth or tongue. And if your nose is blocked most of the time, it's worth asking a doctor why: allergies, a deviated septum and other causes can often be treated directly.
How we compare: this guide is based on each manufacturer's published design and features, and on how each type of device works. It is not a hands-on test, and it isn't medical advice. Not sure which type you need? Take the quiz.