Long flight before rhinoplasty surgery. Will flying damage my results?

Question

I am planning to have my revision rhinoplasty surgery in the U.S. but live in Europe so I will be flying for 11 hours ahead of the surgery. To maximise the amount of out of office recovery time I was thinking of flying in just the evening before my surgery. I fly a lot for work so this should not be too much of a strain for me but I wonder if this could damage my results at all for any reason? I want as much recovery time as possible but I by no means want to jeopardise my results!

Demetrio J. Aguila III, MD, FACS · Answer

Thank you for your question. Patients commonly have questions regarding flying as it relates to the safety of their postoperative period.  I can tell you for my personal experience as a flight surgeon in the Air Force for more than 15 years and as an ear nose and throat surgeon for 13 years that flying prior to her surgery should not pose a problem assuming that you don't have any significant pulmonary or respiratory concerns such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma.  Even in those cases however if the asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or not severe and are well controlled, it is unlikely that the flying will have any impact on this.I would recommend that you discuss your concerns in detail with her surgeon prior to making arrangements for your flight.  If you have the opportunity to discuss this in detail with your anesthesia team prior to the flight, that may be advisable as well.Best wishes!

William Portuese, MD · Answer

It is acceptable to fly in for surgery, but  your nose and facial features maybe a little more puffy and swollen from the airplane atmospheric pressure.  You will also certainly have jet lag in addition to the hangover from anesthesia. At what point we're going to meet with your surgeon prior to undergoing a complicated revision rhinoplasty procedure? In our practice, we ask patients to fly in a day or 2 prior to their surgery so that the patient's can meet the surgeon, completely go over the procedure and get a pre-op appointment with one of the nurses prior to undergoing the surgery. Just as important as the surgery is  the postop followup

Long flight before rhinoplasty surgery. Will flying damage my results?

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Long flight before rhinoplasty surgery. Will flying damage my results?

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Everything you need to know about Revision Rhinoplasty

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.