How Long Does a Broken Nose Take to Heal?

If there is a hairline fracture or minimally displaced fracture that does not cause either breathing problem or an obvious deformity, then it can be observed and allow the bones to heal by fusing again without further manipulations. However, if there is a significant displacement, then a closed reduction procedure, ideally timed at 7-10 days following the injury could reduce the fracture and allow the bone and cartilage to heal in their anatomic (or near anatomic) position and thus minimize the chance of either complications mentioned above.In either case, it takes a total of at least 6 week for the bones to be considered healed and stable but many surgeons prefer a total of 3 months abstinence from contact sports.

A minor, straight nasal fracture that doesn't require resetting typically takes about 3 to 6 weeks to heal. During this time, swelling and bruising will gradually subside, and the bone will begin to heal. However, it can take up to 3 months for the nose to fully heal, especially in terms of soft tissue recovery. It’s important to follow the care instructions provided by your doctor to ensure proper healing and avoid complications.

I typically tell patients that the nasal bones are fused by about 14 days after the inital injury. This varies a bit based on age and degree of injury. For example, younger patients may heal in around 10 days compared to older patients who may still have some mobility of the bones even after 14 days. Similarly, if the nasal fracture is very minor with limited displacement, they may heal faster than a significant fracture with displacement which has less normal bone nearby to help the healing process. This is timeframe becomes important in the situation that the nose is no longer straight or there are associated nasal breathing issues. That is why I recommend patients be seen within 5-10 days where the bones can be "reset" into a better alignment relatively easily. After that 2 week time frame after the bones have fused in their current position it often requires a trip to the OR to "rebreak" and reset the bones, which is a slightly more involved procedure than what can be done within the ideal time window.
Hope this helps and best of luck!Kyle Kimura, MD

It usually takes 6 weeks for the nasal bones to heal. I would advise seeing a specialist to ensure that it doesn't need a closed nasal reduction (or "be reset") soon after injury. It's a lot easier to reset bones within the first 2 weeks.

Hello,thanks a lot for your question,do you have any problems breathing?
There are several situations,the most reccomndable will be that you visit your doctor and get a face to face evaluation and check if is necessary to do an intervention,it can be crooked or depends in the kind of fracture we must evaluate is setting is neccesary,the nose use to heal very fast but as i mentioned before depends in the fracture we can decide what can comes next,and if its broke it may be necessary to let it heal the next 10 weeks or more .

A broken nose can take several months to completely heal - bones take longer to heal than most of the body.
This is important to know, particularly if you are thinking of having surgery to fix a broken nose.
There are 2 potential timings for surgery after breaking the nose - either straight away, when the tissues are still 'raw', or after several months, once things are settled.
Having surgery immediately also depends - it is not always possible to fix a broken nose straight away, especially if there is a lot of bruising and/or swelling.
This is why surgery is generally carried out after a few months. I tend to encourage my patients to wait a good year before undergoing corrective surgery for a broken nose - the surgery is technically simpler, which also means fewer things can go wrong. This is turn means you are more likely to be happy with the result.
As always, the secret to nose surgery or rhinoplasty is patience!