3 1/2 Months After Septorhinoplasty can I Tan My Face?

If you have a darker complexion it is probably not a good idea to tan your nose as it may result in hyper-pigmentation.

Exposing your nose to the sun will likely lead to some increased swelling, but the main issue is avoiding sun exposure to any external incision (if you have any). I recommend keeping the nose protected with SPF 30 or higher sun block for at least a year after surgery.

In general, your nose has less natural protection from the sun right after rhinoplasty. All the tissue was just elevated off of the internal structure of the nose, including the bone and cartilage, and blood vessels were coagulated in order to do this. There fore we weakened the nose's natural defense since we weakened its blood supply. This blood supply grows back , but it can take quite a bit of time to happen. In the first 6 weeks, your nose is less naturally resistant to UV rays and is more likely to burn and get discolored. Also, since your nose is mostly numb early on, its less likely that you are to notice the problem until its too late. I recommend you stay out of the sun as much as possible in the first 6 weeks after surgery. If you are in the sun for short periods of time, stay in the shade, and wear a big hat and a good sunblock. Do not wear sun glasses in the first 6 weeks, or any glasses for that matter, if osteotomies were performed, (breaking of the nasal bones). You can get your nose wet as soon as the splint comes off, but I would be careful about chlorinated pools early on until the incision is fully healed an more mature, as the chlorine can irritate the incision. The gym and anything that increases you blood pressure will increase the swelling of your nose and delay your healing time. I recommend 6 weeks for this as well.Best Wishes, Pablo Prichard, MD

Although your swelling has not totally subsided, at 3 1/2 months it should be no problem going into the sun as long as you use sunblock with a high SPF. Since you had a revision rhinoplasty, swelling should take even longer than a primary rhinoplasty,and you should be patient.

My recommendations following rhinoplasty are as follows:  No prolonged sun exposure for 3 weeks.  Thereafter, if you must go in the sun then wear high level sunblock (minimum SPF 45), wear a wide-brim hat and limit the exposure as much as possible.  These precautions apply for 6 months following rhinoplasty and possibly longer for revision rhinoplasty due to delayed healing. 

Any facial area that has undergone surgical dissection is more sensitive to the effects of UV radiation such as sun exposure.  In other words, the involved area will burn with much more quickly than it otherwise would and the amount of swelling will be much greater.  This can potentially compromise the long term outcome by promoting prolonged edema and scarring and thickening of the nasal skin cover.  The degree of increased sensitivity is directly related to the degree of surgical dissection.