How to deal with allergies after Rhinoplasty?

Question

I live in the Central Valley (CA) and am 8.5 weeks post-op. The air here has been giving me horrible allergies which make my nose even more swollen than usual, the region just above my tip gets particularly swollen, on top of making it hurt just to breathe because of how dry my nose gets. On a bad day, I'll get tiny red spots on q-tips while cleaning. I've already spoken to my doctor and am using Vaseline/ humidifier to help w/bleeding. Any tips on how to deal w/allergies and poor air quality?

Carlos Ayala, MD, FACS · Answer

Allergy testing by skin prick testing or RAST blood testing is the best way to figure out what you are allergic to.  If you don't use beta blockers or have other contraindications you can figure out your allergies.  Then you can begin allergy immunotherapy either with injections or sublingual drops.  This will get rid of all your allergies for good.

Andrew S. Frankel, MD · Answer

You should first understand that the surgery itself creates changes to the lining of the nose such that they are often more reactive to things for a few months and sometimes longer. In older patients or in revision patients that have had multiple surgeries these changes can be longstanding and we call such a condition 'vasomotor rhinitis'.In a typical situation there is still some swelling from the operation and greater reactivity after surgery that only exacerbates allergies. I have my patients spray saline into their noses 10-20 times per day and occasionally they rinse the nose with a saline wash. If the nose isn't too dried out then I would also put the patients on a nasal steroid spray such as Flonase or Nasonex after 6 weeks. These should help in 45% of the cases. I agree with your doctor that a humidifier and vaseline are helpful too. Using a systemic antihistamine such as Claritin or Allegra might also be beneficial. I recommend staying away from the ones with the added decongestant at first as that can be drying; but if there is not much relief then perhaps that would be worthwhile. Of course you should follow up with your surgeon as well as there are other medicines (Atrovent etc.) that help.

How to deal with allergies after Rhinoplasty?

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How to deal with allergies after Rhinoplasty?

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Everything you need to know about Rhinoplasty

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