Pain threshold and rhinoplasty? What pain killers can I request?

Pain management after rhinoplasty:I routinely prescribe a few days worth of narcotic pain med such as hydrocodone to my patients following rhinoplasty. Over the years I am impressed to hear that about 90% of them do not even take it. Most patients say they just took Tylenol or took nothing at all. Occasionally, about one out of 10 will say that it was painful and that they did take the narcotic pain med. In these cases they usually take it for approximately three days.

I typically prescribe my patients a short course of Norco for breakthrough pain. I do recommend taking narcotics with Colace since you can get constipated while taking narcotics. Please avoid alcohol and operating a vehicle while taking narcotic medication.

Thank you for your question. Most patients ask if rhinoplasty surgery is painful. Both open and closed technique rhinoplasty is performed under general anesthesia so there's no pain experienced during the operation but what about afterwards?
In the first few days after your surgery, you will experience some swelling, bruising, and maybe some minor bleeding. Each patient has a different pain threshold but most patients report no pain after the surgery, just some mild discomfort is noted.
During the surgery, we give our patients painkillers through the IV and when they get discharged from the hospital they are prescribed painkillers as well.