Rhinoplasty surgery is certainly a complex and complicated procedure to perform. Small maneuvers can result in big changes and unintended consequences. It certainly helps to have a surgeon working on you that knows what they are doing. Unlike most plastic surgery procedures, nose reshaping takes longer to heal and deliver a final result. Of all the procedures I perform, rhinoplasty easily requires the closest patient management to get the best results.
Because healing from nose surgery can take up to a year, it is best for patients to exercise a bit of patience to avoid going crazy over those 12 months. Aside from asymmetry, one thing that most patients fret over is swelling in the nose after surgery.
After surgery, the race is on. Patients are so busy trying to get back to their regular lives that they don’t realize they have a big part to play in reducing swelling. I require icing and head of bed elevation to control the major swelling that occurs during the first five days after surgery. In addition, a nasal splint is applied for both protection of the nose and to reduce swelling, pain, and bruising. While patients hate packing in the nose, it is a great way to tamponade bleeding and cut down on bruising and swelling.
Patients often remark on how every day they have a new nose because of the ebb and flow of swelling they see. Over time this stops and the nose shapes up quite nicely. Anything that increases your heart rate or blood pressure will increase the swelling in your nose. Extra icing after workouts can help in this situation.
Excess salt or alcohol in the diet can cause swelling. Low protein intake can cause swelling. Excess heat exposure can cause swelling. Sunburn that injures the delicate nasal skin after surgery can cause swelling. Re-traumatizing too early after surgery can increase scar and worsen swelling. So many things can cause swelling. Often the difference between a successful rhinoplasty and a mediocre one is how well the patient managed swelling after surgery.
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