How Long After Rhinoplasty Until I Can Wear Glasses?

If you would require osteotomies during your Rhinoplasty Surgery, you would need to wear a light, removable splint for a month after your surgery. A light, removable splint would disperse the weight of your glasses along the length of your bridge. This would eliminate the possibility of leaving an indentation where your glasses lie.

I hope this is helpful for you.

Regards from NJ.

Great question.   I advise my patients not to wear glasses for approximately 2 months post op.  After the nose splint is removed about a week after surgery, I instruct my patients to tape their glasses to their forehead or prop them onto their cheeks until the two month post surgery mark/until the nose is healed enough to allow them to wear their glasses again. 

Prescription Glasses or Sunglasses that are heavy or have tight nose pads may slightly push on the newly shaped nose bones if worn before the bones have healed securely (which can take up to 8 weeks). · If pressure is significant it could cause some deformity of the nose bones that were operated on. Therefore, while you should be able to resume wearing lighter glasses earlier, you must observe precautions:- - Consider modifying your glasses by spreading the nose pads so there is no excess or firm pressure on the bridge or sides of your nose.. If your glasses are essential for vision, you may choose to have one pair of glasses modified prior to your surgery. - If needed, hold the glasses in position by taping the bridge of your glasses to your forehead with skin coloured tape (available at pharmacies). You can wear contact lenses as soon as you feel comfortable after surgery. Check with your doctor if you have any concerns or questions.

Thank-you for your question. After rhinoplasty it is highly recommended that if needed you wear the lightest eyewear that you can, so you can allow for the septum to heal properly without putting any undue pressure on the nasal area. We recommend that our patients avoid wearing glasses for at least 4-8 weeks after their procedure or until recommended by their surgeon as this varies depending on the patient and how they heal. It is important to see a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon who will give the best recommendations for your post-operative treatment.

Immediately after rhinoplasty our patients can wear glasses because they have a plastic splint on the nose, protecting it. Once the splint comes off at 5 days, we give the patients 1/4 '' paper tape and if they want to wear glasses, they tape the nose piece to the forehead. We want to reduce risks. We don't want depressions on the nose or asymmetries because the glasses hit the nose to hard. When the bones are stable,usually 6 weeks then you can wear glasses reliably.

We recommend that patients don’t wear eyeglasses for at least four weeks following rhinoplasty.  During this period the nasal bones aren’t totally healed and slight pressure can cause distortion, indentation and secondary nasal deformities
            In patients who are dependent upon their eyeglasses, alternative strategies are occasionally necessary.  When nasal splints are present, eyeglasses can be placed directly on top of these stable structures without concern.  The splints are usually removed after the first week and other approaches becomes necessary.

            We often recommend taping the eyeglasses to the forehead.  In some cases additional padding can be attached to the nasal eyeglass pads as well.

When patients require eyeglasses to function these maneuvers represent a significant disruption of daily activities.  With this in mind, it’s important to remember that the benefits of rhinoplasty will last an entire lifetime.  

Glasses can be worn after the nasal splint has been removed (approximately 1 week following surgery).  The glasses must not exert weight or apply any pressure on the healing nose for at least 4 weeks following surgery.  Some patients tape their glasses to their forehead to avoid any pressure on the healing tissue and to prevent any unwanted indentations.  Contact
lenses can be worn as soon as you feel able.

The exact timing of when you can wear glasses is largely
dependent on how much work you’ve had done as well as how well your
body is responding to recovery. Most patients are advised to wait at least 6
weeks before resuming wearing their glasses. This is to avoid premature contact
between the frame of the glasses and the healing nose which can cause a
permanent indentation. Again, the amount of time you may have to wait may fall
outside this time frame. In the meantime, contact lenses are typically safe to
wear.

The timing on when you can wear your glasses again after rhinoplasty depends on a few things:

Were there nasal bone fractures done during surgery. If there weren't then there isn't really any limitation to wearing glasses with the understanding that you may get some temporary depressions on the skin where the nose piece contacts your nose.

If you did have bone fractures done during surgery (osteotomies) then I usually tell patients to wait 6 weeks before wearing glasses again. While the nasal cast is on the first week it's okay to wear them, though.

The important point, though, is that you should follow whatever instructions the surgeon that actually did your surgery tells you.

Depending on how heavy the glasses are, I consider allowing my patients wearing glasses if they have to 4 weeks after rhinoplasty. I often break the nasal bones during surgery (osteotomies) and it's important to give the bones time to heal, which takes 4-8 weeks. If something really heavy goes on them or hits them, they could in theory move. At 4 weeks, I assess my patients for any tenderness to palpation along the edges of the nose. If there is no tenderness, that suggests the bones have undergone clinical healing of the bone, though they may not yet be 100% full strength. At that time it is ok to wear light glasses. Otherwise if at all possible I ask my patients to wait 6-8 weeks to be extra safe, but not all patients are able to wear contact lenses instead so sometimes some flexibility is needed. Additionally, if glasses are heavier, a piece of tape to hold them to your forehead so that all of the weight is not on the nose helps minimize any risk.
-David Mattos, Harvard-trained plastic surgeon