There used to be a topical antimicrobial that had silver
combined with a protein. It did the job of silver nitrate,
which was unstable and a bit harsh to put into the nose,
which quite a few people did until their nose turned a
dusky blue-gray from silver permanently deposited in the tissues. Can't remember the name of the product. I'll see
if I can find it on search. I still remember my wife's grandmother's spectacular blue beak. "Argyria".

Edit: I searched for "Barnes silver protein" and found an article about "Argyrol" - that's the name I couldn't remember. I doubt that it is on the market now. Here's URL:
http://together.net/~rjstan/msp.html