What kind of pain can I expect with rhinoplasty?

Thank you for your question. After rhinoplasty you will feel discomfort and some pain around the nose and central face after rhinoplasty. Many people expect a lot of pain and are often pleasantly surprised. Those who have had a broken nose commonly are happily surprised, as the rhinoplasty surgery is less painful than the fracture. If the ear or chest is also operated on to harvest cartilage, these areas are usually more painful. Use the pain pills for as long as needed. Remember its easier to stay on top of pain than to play catch up. As the pain diminishes, break the pill in half or even a quarter. Another suggestion is to switch to extra strength Tylenol. The pressure and congestion lasts longer, usually a few weeks. Cleaning your nose helps reduce the discomfort.
Some people have headaches while their nasal stents are present due to sinus congestion. Most people have nasal pressure, fullness and discomfort after nose surgery. Some people wonder if taking an over the counter decongestant will help. Sadly it’s rarely the case. Your nasal breathing is reduced after rhinoplasty even if no internal surgery took place. This is due to post surgery swelling. If there was additional internal nasal surgery (Septoplasty or Turbinate surgery), the internal nose stents narrow the nasal channels temporarily and always cause some degree of nasal blockage.

The majority of patients do not complain of pain after surgery. I would say 80% of the patients don’t take any of the pain medication prescribed.  Those that do take the medication will take it for the first day or so to help themselves sleep. Most patients describe the pain as discomfort. 

Hi,Thank you for your question(s). In general, our patients no not have much pain after surgery. Many state that they did not require any of the narcotic pain medication that we prescribe. In terms of bruising, everyone is different. We start our patients on Arnica and bruising is mostly gone by 1 week. The amount of swelling and the duration of the swelling is directly correlated with the amount and length of surgery and whether it is a primary (less swelling) or revision surgery (more swelling).
In our primary cases you can expect:
* 70-75% improvement in swelling at 1 month
* 95% improvement in swelling at 6 months 
* 99% improvement at 1 yearBest,Mehdi Sina, MD

Hello and thank you for your question.  The
best advice you can receive is from an in-person consultation.  I recommend taking one week off from work/school after surgery.  This will allow enough time for bruising and swelling to start to resolve to a point where you can return to work/school.  Post-operative pain is not too bad compared to other types of surgery.   Make sure you specifically look
at before and after pictures of real patients who have had this surgery
performed by your surgeon and evaluate their results.   The most
important aspect is to find a surgeon you are comfortable with. I recommend
that you seek consultation with a qualified board-certified plastic surgeon who
can evaluate you in person.
Best wishes and good luck.
Richard G. Reish, M.D.  FACS
Harvard-trained plastic surgeon

Thanks for your question Karen.  Often my patients are pleasantly surprised that their rhinoplasty recovery and discomfort are much easier than they expected. During my 20+ years of rhinoplasty surgery, I have improved my technique to minimize post-op pain and provide the best results. There will be some discomfort after surgery with swelling and some discoloration around the nose and under the eyes. The most common complaint I hear after surgery is that patients can’t breathe through their nose until the packing is dissolved. Overall, our rhinoplasty patients do really well and tell us the recovery was well worth it for the results they receive.  Meet with board certified plastic surgeons with many years of experience with this surgery to help answer these questions for you.

  It is important to ask your surgeon if they are going to put painful packing on the inside of  your nose. If packing is placed, it is painful.  No packing placed,then  the procedure is not painful.  In our practice, most of the patient's take a few medium strength Vicodin pain pills for the first couple of days after the procedure.

Rhinoplasty is not a procedure that is associated with much discomfort or significant pain. The nose will be sore and most likely congested for awhile. It is the swelling of the nose that will take one time to go down to see the final result.

Rhinoplasty discomfort can be significant for the first several days especially if osteotomies are performed. Sometimes narcotics are necessary but  many can take tylenol after a day or two.

As with all surgery, everyone has a unique recovery course after rhinoplasty. In my practice, however,, specific steps are taken to minimize postoperative pain, bruising and swelling. We utilize a type of “preemptive analgesia” sedation anesthesia which has been shown to minimize postoperative pain. We also inject ultra-long-lasting numbing medicine at the end of surgery to Leo the nose numb as long as possible. Finally, we do not pack the nose, which also minimizes painband discomfort. With the above measures taken, about half of my patients recover using only Tylenol for pain. The remainder use fewer than 10 pain pills during their recovery. Bruising and swelling “outing” your secret in the first few weeks is absolutely still possible. While most patients look presentable at one week, some require 2 weeks or longer for all major bruising to subside. For details about the rhinoplasty healing process, please watch the linked video and please visit the page below.

Typically my patients do not complain of pain following Rhinoplasty surgery.  The nose may be sore, and there may be congestion.  Each patient is different in terms of their healing so swelling and bruising vary from patient to patient.  We do not typically see severe bruising and swelling at all.  If there is any bruising, this typically resolves within the first 5 to 7 days.  Good luck!Dr. S.