How do you feel about taping the nose after rhinoplasty?

Question

I had a revision rhinoplasty done 6 months ago. When I first got my cast off I LOVED it. My nose started to swell so my doctor told me to tape for a month straight, but I still tape my nose every night. My nose looks amazing when I take my tape off in the morning, but swells as the day goes on. My nose has now formed some weird irregularities. Not sure if its swelling. If I don't tape it & sleep it's too swollen in the morning. My dad says it is bcuz I am taping and ruining my nose. Can that be?

Eric M. Joseph, MD · Answer

Prolonged taping of your nose may not be harmful or cause irregularities, but may be largely unnecessary insofar as your final result is concerned. If you are seeing nasal irregularities 6 months after revision rhinoplasty, it may be from natural resolution of swelling. You may have a small indentation along your left nasal sidewall. In many cases, this may be filled with Silikon-1000 for a permanent result. Hope this helps! Dr Joseph

Steven Wallach, MD · Answer

Long term taping will only cause temporary improvement. Time will improve the swelling. It can take a year or longer. Good luck.

Michael R. Menachof, MD · Answer

Taping your nose can make it look better immediately, but likely will have no long-term effect.  Ultimately the swelling will completely go away.  It is not uncommon for this to take up to a year after a rhinoplasty.  The key to a good long-term result is not how the tape pushes on the nose after the surgery but how the cartilage and bone were shaped during the surgery.  Taping will not change this. Be patient.  Things will get better.  Stay in close contact with your surgeon.  Good luck.

David A. Sieber, MD, FACS · Answer

Thanks for the great question! The nasal tip is the area of the nose which maintains the most swelling for the longest amount of time after surgery. There are a few things to reduce the swelling. The first is steroids. These can be injected into the tip if the swelling is persisting. The second thing is taping. The taping helps to hold the shape of the nose while pushing some of the swelling out. The last thing which helps is time. After a revision rhinoplasty, most patients can expect there to be some swelling for 6-12 months after surgery. If you're not sure about the taping, then I would make an appointment to discuss this with your surgeon.  Best of luck!~Dr. Sieber

Robert E. Zaworski, MD (retired) · Answer

It takes up to a year and sometimes longer for the swelling to completely subside following Rhinoplasty.  Long term taping only causes temporary improvement.  Your surgeon is your best resource for information regarding your care.  Discuss taping with him.

How do you feel about taping the nose after rhinoplasty?

Answers (5)