Can you breathe through the nose right after surgery?

Hello there,As an Otolaryngologist (Head and Neck Surgeon) as well as a Facial Cosmetic Surgeon, i see alot of nose surgery. Both for breathing problems as well as for cosmetic concerns. I have a little talk I give people about breathing after surgery and I will try to summarize and give some advice. The first thing to remember, is every surgeon is DIFFERENT. We all do different things. Ask your surgeon if he plans on performing a "Septoplasty" for your rhinoplasty. If that is the case, you may notice your breathing actually improve after surgery on the first day, however...your breathing will likely worsen for the next week or two as it will take that long for swelling to go down. Also, ask your surgeon if he/she uses nasal splints. This can make the breathing very difficult for a few weeks until they are removed. The typical case after a rhinoplasty is that you will wake up with some gauze under your nose so it may be hard to breath through your nose. But you will easily be able to breath through your mouth. Some people, who narrow their nose alot, may end up with some breathing trouble after the surgery, but this is something you should discuss with your surgeon. Hopefully this was somewhat helpfull,Dr James P. Bonaparte, MD, MSc, FRCSCOtolaryngology Head and Neck SurgeryPracticing in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

This really depends on your surgeons technique.  Historically nasal packing was utilized routinely following nasal surgery. There has been a trend to use nasal packing  selectively following nasal surgery. In my practice I only utilize nasal packing and rare situations where there is excess nasal bleeding.  For routine Rhinoplasty procedures no packing is needed.  Typically patients are able to breathe through their nose immediately following  rhinoplasty surgery. Mild nasal congestion usually subsides over the first few weeks. 

 There are many reasons patient's are able/ not able to breathe out of their nose. In our practice, we do  not place any packing inside the nose, so patients are able to breathe out of their nose.  There is still going to be some  swelling on the inside of the nose even though an external rhinoplasty is being performed. If a septoplasty has been performed or  harvesting for cartilage grafting has been performed on the inside of the nose, patients will be restricted from breathing out of their nose due to the swelling in the septum. For more information and many examples, please see  the  link and the video below