Professional football player face mask after rhinoplasty?

Hello and thank you for your question. I clear my patients for the gym and exercise at one week postop. For my patients, you can return to playing contact sports at six weeks without protection. I recommend that you maintain close follow up with your surgeon who can evaluate you in person.

Best wishes and good luck.

Richard G. Reish, M.D.
Harvard-trained plastic surgeon

Healing continues along a spectrum of time.
There is no one set date or time frame when you all of a sudden are healed.
The strength or integrity of the tissues after the procedure depends in part on what was done during surgery.
If the procedure was soft tissue oriented, only then you can probably get back to full Contact sports sooner.
I think six weeks would be a reasonable timeframe of when it would be safe to play contact sports but your best option is to confirm with your provider.
Facial healing is quite rapid.
I would probably be very cautious within the first three weeks.
The answer to your question will inevitably be in part subjective, and it will vary from provider to provider.
Part of the decision is a balancing act between the implications of not playing versus the risk of facial injury to an area that’s still sensitive.
I recall as a teenager asking a doctor when I could go skiing after having sprained my wrist.
He said as long as you fall on the other side, you can go this weekend.
Your provider should be able to give you better guidance since here she is more familiar with what was actually done.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD