If you’re considering rhinoplasty, you’ll be happy to know that most patients have a short initial recovery period and are quickly back to work or school and their normal routine. Rhinoplasty is so popular due to those important details, and because it can make an incredible positive change in your life.
For the Best Rhinoplasty Recovery Experience: Choose the Right Expert Surgeon
When you select a board certified and experienced plastic surgeon whom you trust, you can join the large group of people who enjoy a satisfying outcome from their nose reshaping procedure. Choosing the right rhinoplasty surgeon as your expert partner in your rhinoplasty journey is key to getting the results you want and to a quick and uneventful recovery process.
Everyone is unique and each surgery is planned around your specific needs and goals – this means that your recovery will also be unique. In addition, each patient heals at a different rate determined in part by their genetics, overall health, age, emotional state and more. Still, having a dedicated NJ rhinoplasty surgeon at your side throughout your surgery (and supervising your recovery) gives you the best opportunity for an amazing rhinoplasty outcome. Here we’ll share an outline of the typical patient recovery process that we see, and offer tips to make your rhinoplasty recovery a success.
Rhinoplasty Recovery Timeline and Tips
Immediately after rhinoplasty surgery: Most patients describe coming awake, after spending the last two to three hours in surgery, as kind of foggy, with a certain far away sensation. You will regain consciousness in the recovery area of a high-tech ambulatory surgery facility with a nurse at your side to ensure your safety. When the medical staff and your surgeon feel you’re prepared to go home, you’ll be joined by your family member or friend, who has been waiting in the lobby area during your surgery. Later, looking back, you may remember few details from this very early recovery period. You’ll generally exit in a wheelchair guided by a recovery nurse.
Returning Home on Surgery Day: Now Your Recovery Begins!
Your friend drives you home after surgery and you must have someone stay with you for the first 24 to 48 hours after rhinoplasty surgery. Your friend is there to get you a glass of water for your pain medication, help you to the bathroom, lift things for you, etc. You may feel like walking around the house later in the day and your friend can keep you steady, ensuring that you don’t trip and possibly ruin your surgeon’s beautiful work. You should not strain yourself in any way during the first few days post-surgery and don’t bend over to pick up a dropped remote or book. Ask your friend to help.
How you’ll feel: You’ll feel uncomfortable, but typically patients report only minor pain, which is easily controlled with your prescription pain medication and later acetaminophen. You will have picked up pain medicine in advance, along with other recovery supplies like a wedge pillow and frozen peas (which can act like a form fitting ice pack that’s gentle on your newly operated nose).
You’ll have a pressurized feeling in and around your nose from local inflammation as the body begins healing itself. You can’t breathe through your nose or smell anything. You’ll feel a bit cut off from the world – like you have the worst sinus congestion of your life. This is the most uncomfortable phase of your healing process after rhinoplasty.
How you’ll look: For the first several days, you will be significantly swollen and bruised and you may have black eyes that look like you got the worst of a boxing match. Swelling should peak around day three and then very gradually subside. It will take a year or more for all the swelling to disappear, but after the first couple of weeks, it won’t be readily noticeable to others.
You’ll have a nasal splint on the bridge of your nose and you may have packing inside. In some cases, you may only have a small drip pad beneath your nostrils to absorb minor post-surgical bleeding. You’ll begin sleeping propped on pillows or sitting in a recliner. This helps minimize sinus pressure and helps swelling subside.
Rhinoplasty Recovery: Day 2 to 4
Due to inflammation and sinus pressure, your sense of taste and smell will be absent during this time. Take your pain prescription if you need it, so that you rest comfortably and begin the healing process. Sinus pressure and post-nasal drip makes sleep difficult. If you have no packing in your nose, you may try irrigating your nasal passages to minimize the congested feeling.
Hopefully you slept and rested most of day one, and if you’re feeling restless, light activity is ok. Remember not to bend over or lift anything, however. Walking around the house is encouraged every few hours to avoid blood clots in the legs. Don’t attempt to blow your nose and be sure to avoid blood thinning paid medicine like Motrin, Aspirin and Advil. Care for your incision and irrigate nasal passages as directed by your surgeon.
End of Week One in Rhinoplasty Recovery
Inflammation will begin to very gradually subside and bruising will start to heal. The nasal splint may feel loose, but don’t pull on or move it. The splint is typically removed at the end of this week by your NJ plastic surgeon.
When the splint is removed, you’ll have the first look at your new nose. It will appear large – remember, you’re swollen. Your nose will begin looking better and better every day. Be sure to wear a hat for sun protection for at least the next couple of months.
Patients who do office or computer work can generally go back to work or school at the end of the week. Some patients choose to take a second week off, and this is mandatory if you have active or strenuous job duties. Of course, take care not to rub your nose, blow your nose or accidentally bump it.
Week Two Post Rhinoplasty
During this time, bruising fades to become hardly noticeable. Friends and colleagues may not notice, unless you’ve informed them that you’ve had rhinoplasty surgery.
Rhinoplasty Recovery: Weeks Three and Four
Don’t plan on serious exercise or playing sports quite yet – wait until about two months after surgery. Much of your nasal inflammation has abated by now, and your nose will continue to look more refined every day, as healing continues.
Month One through Three in Rhinoplasty Recovery
At this point, swelling remains at the tip of your nose – so don’t worry if the tip seems too broad or big at this time. The nasal tip may feel numb. The bridge is closer to reaching its final look. You’ll continue seeing your NJ rhinoplasty surgeon for follow-up visits to monitor your progress in healing. He or she will assess the development of scar tissue and provide any necessary treatment to help dissolve or break it up as necessary. Call your surgeon any time you have a question or concern about your healing process between office visits.
One Year After Rhinoplasty Surgery… And Beyond
You probably haven’t been to your surgeon’s office for about three months. At your first annual follow-up visit, your surgeon will advise you whether and when you need to come in for additional follow-up. If you have an external incision, a tiny one on the skin between your nostrils, scarring is generally invisible by now. You may still have some minor swelling at this point, which will be hardly noticeable. Aging will continue to cause minimal changes in your nose over the rest of your lifetime, but your terrific rhinoplasty result should age well in harmony with the rest of your facial features.
The Optimal Rhinoplasty Recovery Process
Top plastic surgeons who specialize in rhinoplasty will support your speedy recovery in every way possible. To ensure that you have the best rhinoplasty recovery experience, (a short and uneventful one), team up with an expert NJ rhinoplasty surgeon. Follow all your pre- and post-rhinoplasty instructions carefully to ensure success. In the rare event of a complication during your healing process, rest assured that the best rhinoplasty surgeons handle such issues swiftly and properly, to ensure your health and safety, along with a rhinoplasty result you will love.
