After I take the tapes off will my nose swell up again?

Question

Just had a rhinoplasty almost 2 weeks ago. Had another procedure to stop bleeding shortly after. While I was under, the doctor took my splint off and just used tapes on my nose for the swelling to go down. We took the tapes off a few days later and when I saw my nose for the first time it looked extremely swollen so I asked to have tapes put back on to make the swelling go down. I have the tapes on now, and my nose doesn't look as swollen. Will the swelling go up again after the tapes are off?

Jason Roth, MBBS, FRACS · Answer

My experience is that when the tapes are on, patients always feel their nose looks less swollen and more reflective of the final shape. Once the tapes come off what tends to occur is that the nose swells up in the morning after lying horizontal overnight then improves in appearance as the day progresses while being upright. The good news is that much of this initial swelling settles in a few weeks before the long slow wait begins for some of the other swelling. I would not encourage you to apply and reapply the tape too often as the process of putting the tape on and off itself causes a little trauma by lifting the skin off the underlying cartilage and bone. Usually a couple of weeks at most is sufficient. In my patients we use a splint for one week then tape for the second, then nothing. This tends to work well.

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