Swelling from Closed Rhinoplasty

Dear rhinoplasty patient from Chicago,
Since you had a rhinoplasty six days ago, swelling and numbness is a normal post rhinoplasty phenomena. It will all resolve with time. After rhinoplasty many patients experience post operative anxiety with usual swelling, and numbness.  What you're experiencing is normal. Talk to your surgeon
 

Your situation sounds totally normal.  The body responds to surgical treatment with swelling and there is virtually no way around it.  Patience is the key because Rhinoplasty results can take a year and even longer to fully evolve.

Unfortunately, swelling frequently accompanies both open and closed rhinoplasties, and may persist for months.  Please do not be discouraged by your results yet, as it is far too premature to judge at this point.  Continue close follow up with your doctor.  The two ingredients that are critical now are mother nature and father time.  Good luck!!

In general, almost all noses are numb right after a rhinoplasty. In most cases its the tip that is numb, but this numbness can extend down to the upper lip, and in rare cases some of the teeth. There are nerves that are cut and stretched during a rhinoplasty, and it takes a long time for those nerves to start working again. This is true of an open as well as closed rhinoplasty, although it tends to be more extensive in open rhinoplasty. This could also be more extensive if a septoplasty is performed at the same time. A revision rhinoplasty is a much harder surgery with a lot of internal scarring to cut through. This can also be a reason for prolonged numbness. This, along with the swelling, gives you a stiff, plastic type feel, and can give you an odd smile. However, the nerves will start working and again, and your nose stiffness will go away with time. As the nerves grow back, you may feel some tingling, itchiness and on occasion pain. This takes in most cases months, but can take years in rare cases. Extremely rarely, the numbness is permanent, although I have never seen such as case.Best Wishes,Pablo Prichard, MD

This all sounds very normal, as depending on what was done, there might be a fair amount of tissue settling and rearrangement that needs to occur before you have the "final" result you want. I always tell patients that it takes 6-12 months for the tissues to really settle in, and because rhinoplasty is generally considered the most difficult of all plastic surgery procedures, because of it unpredictability, you might need a minor revision. Though it is unlikely, I try ot prepare my patients for reasonable eventualities so that they are not "blindsided" so to speak.