On the one hand you make no mention of whether he is consciously aware he is doing this or if the redness bothers him, or his parents, or just you, or if you have discussed this with them and they are ALL receptive to this type of solution.
On the other hand, this is trying to treat the effective behavior instead of the cause, which can just result in a different OCD behavior taking its place. It is possible that he needs professional counseling or perhaps the parents too, since they ultimately created the environment (unless he is over 18 but I would have thought that is past the point of reasonable intervention by someone outside of his family circle). It is probably a stress response and the most direct solution is exploring reduction of that stress.
If he is near the age of maturity or beyond, I would also wonder if he is snorting drugs, or at any age, has a substantial sinus drainage problem... too little info provided. How long has this been going on? Never mind, this is information for the health care professional to consider when formulating a treatment plan.
The problem isn't the lack of a gadget. The problem is that he has the urge in the first place.
