Considering Rhinoplasty: Does Surgery Make You Sick?

Thanks for the question - Typically blood loss for rhinoplasty is typically minor. A throat pack can be used to catch blood that goes down the nasopharynx and patient's can also be suctioned at the end of the procedure to get any additional blood. In addition, medications to cause vasoconstriction of the blood vessels in the mucosa also significantly lower the amount of bleeding. As some of the other doctors have mentioned nausea can be caused by many sources including, most commonly,... more

Dear Jesse, That is a great question. Since Rhinoplasty does cause some bleeding it is easy for the blood to trickle down the back of your throat. However, proper Rhinoplasty technique involves placing a gauze pack either back in the throat (if you are asleep for the operation), or in the back of the nose (if you have local anesthesia and are awake.) These gauze packs prevent blood from trickling down the back of your throat and are very helpful at preventing the swallowing of blood during... more

In most rhinoplasties patients lose 30 to 50 cc of blood, which is equivalent to 3-5 little tubes of blood. Local anesthetic is placed inside the nose while the patients are asleep to prevent most bleeding from occurring. Occasionally, when patients are awake in the postoperative phase, some blood is swallowed. This blood going down the back of the throat can be upsetting to the stomach causing nausea and vomiting. The nausea and vomiting usually subsides once the bleeding stops. ... more

Dear Jesse, As was said by others, we use a special material to minimize the flow of blood into the back of your throat. We also use nasal packing either temporarily for the surgical procedure or in rare cases for a few days after surgery to stop any bleeding. Most patients experience minimal pain after a rhinoplasty surgery. If I ever have a complaint about discomfort, it is usually from those patients who have had packing left in their nose after the procedure.

Postoperative nausea after rhinoplasty can be significantly reduced by minimal blood loss during the procedure. Bleeding, a minimal amount is normal during the procedure, from the nose can be swallowed during the procedure which will causes nausea. In addition, there is a method for predicting postoperative nausea termed the Apfel Score. If you are female, have a history of motion sickness/postoperative nausea, nonsmoker, and postoperative pain medication is planned, you are much... more

Most plastic surgeons use throat packs, and this prevents any blood going down the throat and the amount of bleeding is minimal. You may want to take some medications preop for nausea. Please discuss your concern with your surgeon.

Rhinoplasty is a surgery that is very well tolerated. Patients usually feel good within a day after surgery and there is little to no pain. During rhinoplasty there is usually very little bleeding. The things that might create more bleeding are septal surgery, turbinate surgery and more aggressive bone work that is required for very crooked noses. Certain types of anesthesia may also be associated with less bleeding and post-operative nausea. I prefer twilight or sedation anesthesia for... more

Jesse06, During rhinoplasty, just as any surgery, you will have minimal bleeding. During the rhinoplasty procedure packs are placed in your nose which help collect the drips of blood from going into your throat. Additionally, at the end of the surgery, your surgeon or anesthesiologist will such any remaining fluid out of your throat. However, after surgery you have some dripping down the back of your throat that goes into your stomach. This is completely normal. You may have mild... more

Jesse, Rhinoplasty, in general, has very little blood loss when done correctly. Moreover, many surgeons will place some packing in the back of the throat during surgery so any blood loss that does occur does not go into the stomach. Still others will place a small suction at the end of the case to remove any blood that was swallowed during the procedure. So this should not be a real source of concern for you. Even if none of this is done, in general, most patients do not feel much nausea... more

Hi Jesse, A little blood letting is a good thing; it has been practiced for thousands of years in medicine. Just kidding, we have improved our medical treatments in the past hundred years. You need not concern yourself with blood going down your throat during rhinoplasty. When performed by a well trained competent experienced rhinoplasty surgeon there is very little bleeding. Once you are under anesthesia, a laryngeal mask airway (LMA) is placed into your mouth. The LMA sits at the base... more

Thankfully, blood loss is not a big issue with rhinoplasty. If great care is taken and your tissues are handled very gently, blood loss can be kept to almost nil. Extra steps can be taken to prevent post-operative nausea, such as reducing swallowing of blood to begin with, suctioning the stomach during surgery, and using a special 'cocktail' of anti-nausea medications. So, you can be reassured that, even if you are someone who is sensitive to anesthesia, post-operative nausea and vomiting... more