Heavy Weight Lifting After Rhinoplasty- What's the Worst That Can Happen?

You are right to be conservative in your resumption of exercise, and what you have done is absolutely what I recommend for my rhinoplasty patients: nothing to raise the blood pressure or pulse for 2 weeks after surgery, no nose blowing for 3 weeks, and nothing super strenuous for 3-4 weeks. When exercise is resumed I always stress GRADUAL return to your normal routines.

What you are feeling is the normal engorgement of your nasal skin and healing tissues when you exert yourself. Your nasal tissues will take 6-12 months to fully heal, soften, resolve swelling, and restore sensation. During this first year I also advise avoidance of sunburn or frostbite, as your nose lacks the "normal" sensory warnings of "Too hot!" or "Too cold!" Even at three weeks bleeding risk is not higher than any one of us who can still have an occasional nosebleed. Best wishes and try not to obsess about your nose--it is truly a work in progress for the first 6-12 months. Trying to watch your nose healing is like watching grass grow--you have to leave for a week or two and then it obviously needs mowing. Nose surgery recovery is even slower, so too much daily observation will make you nothing but crazy!

Patients who undergo rhinoplasty are often eager to resume their normal exercise routine.  Unfortunately, any maneuver that elevates blood pressure in the immediate post-operative period can result in bleeding.  This risk increases when septoplasty is performed in combination with rhinoplasty.

            For this reason, we recommend avoiding most exertion for about two weeks following surgery.  Strenuous activities such as running and weightlifting should be avoided for six to eight weeks following surgery.

            It’s important to discuss these issues with your surgeon before resuming exercise.  Your surgeon will be able to tell you when it’s appropriate to resume your normal exercise routine.

It all depends on the extent of the rhinoplasty. What did the surgeon see when he/she was in there? Did they do extensive septum, turbinate, and bone work? Did they do extensive tip work? Best to contact your surgeon's office before stating on an exercise regimen. We usually tell our patients at each visit what their restrictions are. We tell them, (at the appropriate time),to start slowly and then progress from there. Also, don't be frustrated if you lost endurance, or gains in lifting. It will take a while to get back to where you were.                

The main reason surgeons recommend holding off on strenuous activity for the first couple weeks is the bleeding issue.

You will find that even after 2 weeks your nose will swell, ache and throb when you get your blood pressure up with exercising. You likely won't hinder your overall result, though you will have more external swelling initially than you would otherwise. With time you should reach the same endpoint, though.

Dear Rhinoplasty Patient,

Three week after rhinoplasty surgery, light exercises are acceptable. You must start slowly and build up to your previous duration over the next couple of weeks. Initially there will be slight increase in swelling as result of blood flow to nasal area. The key is going light in the beginning. These swelling associated with exercise will not affect the long term results. Good luck and good healing.