After rhinoplasty surgery will I need nasal packing?

Want to know the most significant complaint we hear about after Rhinoplasty surgery? It’s not pain, pressure, headache, or even discomfort. In fact, rhinoplasty is rarely very painful. The symptom we hear about most is nasal congestion.

Most surgeons still use some form of packing or splint in the nose after surgery to reduce bleeding. These can either be merocel, ribbon gauze, xeroform or a variety of other forms of packing. The end result unfortunately is more discomfort for the patient.

While not being able to breathe through your nose is not earth-shattering, it is extremely annoying. Think of it like a bad head cold that lasts. So, anything we can do to prevent this symptom is meaningful to you, and therefore important to us. And the biggest thing we can do to help, is to avoid nasal packing altogether.

Packing is routinely used by some to help prevent excessive bleeding or dripping. We find we almost never need it. By handling tissues exceedingly carefully and gently, we find that we can generally keep bleeding, bruising, and swelling to an absolute minimum…and the benefit to you is an earlier return to breathing through your nose, less blockage from the beginning, and no painful removal of crusted packing.