I am 7 months post revision rhinoplasty operation. I am a male with thicker skin than the average Joe and both of my procedures were "open" procedures. I no longer can visit my doctor after I moved so I was wondering what signs I could look for to see if my nose (specially the tip/supratip) is still swollen. Moreover, the tip of my nose is very oily compared to the rest of my face and the skin on the tip of my nose recently began to peel. What do these two signs mean? Thank you in advance.
October 17, 2013
Answer: Swelling Following Rhinoplasty Most surgeons gauge residual swelling simply by using statistics and experience. At 7 months out following revision rhinoplasty, statistically, the average nose will still have about 10% of the initial swelling. However, many factors can play into residual swelling for each individual. For instance, thicker, oilier skin like yours can retain swelling longer; if the procedure was "open" with an incision on the columella, the tip swelling can remain longer; if there was extensive use of grafts, the swelling will last longer.An experienced rhinoplasty surgeon can tell simply by looking at the apparent "turgor" of the skin -- which means the tautness of the skin, compared to the normal turgor seen in skin of your age. This turgor can also be compared to the "before" appearance of the skin. Without knowing all these other factors, we are simply going to have to go with statistics for the average person, again which, in your case, is about 10%.Sometimes, when swelling goes down rapidly, there can be some skin flaking, but often the flaking is due to the fact that patients tend to be too gentle when scrubing the nose following surgery, and therefore there is less normal exfoliation of the normal layer of dead skin, which will then build up and flake off if it isn't scrubbed off.
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October 17, 2013
Answer: Swelling Following Rhinoplasty Most surgeons gauge residual swelling simply by using statistics and experience. At 7 months out following revision rhinoplasty, statistically, the average nose will still have about 10% of the initial swelling. However, many factors can play into residual swelling for each individual. For instance, thicker, oilier skin like yours can retain swelling longer; if the procedure was "open" with an incision on the columella, the tip swelling can remain longer; if there was extensive use of grafts, the swelling will last longer.An experienced rhinoplasty surgeon can tell simply by looking at the apparent "turgor" of the skin -- which means the tautness of the skin, compared to the normal turgor seen in skin of your age. This turgor can also be compared to the "before" appearance of the skin. Without knowing all these other factors, we are simply going to have to go with statistics for the average person, again which, in your case, is about 10%.Sometimes, when swelling goes down rapidly, there can be some skin flaking, but often the flaking is due to the fact that patients tend to be too gentle when scrubing the nose following surgery, and therefore there is less normal exfoliation of the normal layer of dead skin, which will then build up and flake off if it isn't scrubbed off.
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