Pain and Recovery Time Vary with Type of Rhinoplasty?

Hi Vivi,Rhinoplasty should not be a painful procedure no matter what type of procedures are carried out. Most patients complain of the pressure and uncomfortable sensation of having packing in their nostrils for 2 to 5 days following rhinoplasty.
Many rhinoplasty surgeons no longer find it necessary to use post-operative nasal packing which makes the recovery period much easier for the patient. I tell my patients that they will feel some pressure, at worst sinus headache type pressure. I ask that they take Tylenol, two tablets every 4 to 6 hours for the first two days. We do give our patients a narcotic pain reliever to take a night before going to sleep, or if the Tylenol is not doing the trick.
After the first two days, it is rare for patients to continue taking their "pain" pills.
Good luck and be well.
Dr. P

I am always amazed by how little pain my patients feel after rhinoplasty. For some reason, most people don't have much pain associated with this operation.
There is definitely some discomfort and mild pain. That is inevitable. However, what I have found is that it varies with how much work is done. Also, in general, work done on the bone causes more discomfort and recovery than the other areas.
Thus, someone with a large and wide bony bridge of the nose will require substantial rasping and fracturing of bone. This usually leads to more discomfort and bruising.
Someone who only needs a minor change to their tip will probably experience slightly less pain and bruising.
In summary, rhinoplasties tend not to be very painful. The amount of discomfort and recovery depends on how much has to be done on the nose.

 Nasal surgery should have the most minimal amount of pain. The most common complaint of our nasal surgery patients is Discomfort--not pain. There is less swelling if you do not have to break the nasal bones.

The longer the procedure the more pain and recovery time. To do a simple hump reduction and osteotomies takes very little time and doesn't have much post-operative pain. The recovery to looking better is essentially immediate. Once you start opening the nose and manipulating the tip or septum the discomfort increases as does the recovery. The nose can still look better immediately after splint removal, but it will take longer to look great. In general even after this kind of surgery the patients still only take prescribed pain meds for a day or two and then transition to Tylenol. As you get more complex, say harvesting a rib for a revision case the discomfort and recovery become longer. The pain from harvesting a rib is much more severe than the nasal pain as every time you breath it hurts. Patients requiring this degree of complexity are ready for such inconveniences however and are grateful. In general, even with a complicated surgery, patients take a week off work, 2 weeks off strenuous activity and 6 weeks off any activity that could injure the nose.

Dear Vivi,
Most of my Rhinoplasty patients do not use the pain meds prescribed. Most post-surgical pain is related to packing. If no packing is placed, there is very little discomfort. In my experience, the type of surgery performed on the nose does not influence the level of pain afterwards.
I hope this helps, and best regards.

Pain and recovery all depends on the amount of work you get done on your nose. Small touch-ups are easier than major bone work, of course, but pain killers these days are fantastic at relieving pain. A typical rhinoplasty requires 1-2 weeks for recovery and the pain gets much better after 1 week. Good luck!