Is Nose Hump After Septoplasty Just Swelling?

Give it a little time. When surgeons rasp (file down) a hump on the bridge of the nose, it will typically remain swollen for several weeks afterward. Your surgeon should be able to tell you whether or not the amount of swelling is normal. If there is still a residual hump there after 6-8 weeks, you may need to have it filed down some more.

Sometimes after septoplasty the cartilage portion of the bridge of the nose can collapse and cause a hump (actually a pseudohump). This is called a saddle nose deformity. It can be prevented by some of the septoplasty techniques performed through an open rhinoplasty approach.

It is not unusual for swelling after rhinoplasty to give the appearance of a hump on profile. This usually will resolve as the swelling improves.   However, the vast majority of nasal humps are mostly cartilaginous.  Simply rasping the bone rarely completely smoothes a hump. 

In general, some amount of swelling after a rhinoplasty is normal and can take several months if not a year to resolve. In some cases, you can get some abnormal scarring of the dorsum of the nose and may need steroid injections to resolve the problem. I would speak with your surgeon about your concerns and ask if he thinks that steroid injections would be helpful.

In general, the swelling takes a full year to go away but you can start to get an idea of what you are going to see after a few months.  The persistent bump could be real or just an artifact but let your doctor guide you through your healing process.