For rhinoplasty, have you seen a reduction in swelling from patients who do red light therapy in home or at an office?

Like everything else new in aesthetic medicine, red light therapy has gotten way ahead of the data. This is going to happen over and over again with new concepts, supplements, and devices until more regulation is built into system, but until then, buyer beware. There is not one peer-reviewed prospective and blinded study comparing patients who get a surgical procedure and then randomly assigned to red light therapy, a 'fake' red light therapy (looks like red light, but different wavelength), and no light therapy. That means anyone saying red light therapy is helpful is only being hopeful.

If some of our patients are excessively swollen after rhinoplasty, we typically refer them to our esthetician for facial lymphatic drainage. That can be very helpful for managing swelling after rhinoplasty. I hope this helps, and thank you for your question. Sincerely, Dr Joseph

I have heard from several patients who underwent red light therapy in early postoperative course that they saw benefits of it? However, there is no published data in our literature about effects of red light on postoperative swelling. It may be worth of trying; be sure that you let your surgeon know about it. Good luck.

Hello and thank you for your question. I don’t find red light therapy truly helpful. The final results take at least 1.5 years for the swelling to fully resolve. This can require lots of patience and waiting. Steroid injections performed by your surgeon can be extremely helpful. I usually start steroid injections around 1 to 2 months after surgery and continue as needed. With that being said, the final outcome will really depend on the surgical techniques that your surgeon used during your surgery. 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

Swelling in the nose after a rhinoplasty is directly related to the type of procedure performed. Open rhinoplasty creates more swelling, and then closed rhinoplasty. It also depends on the thickness of the skin, and the maneuvers performed during the rhinoplasty procedure. When patients have thick skin, steroid shots are necessary to reduce that swelling in the several months after the procedure. Red light therapy will have no benefit. A low salt diet will help reduce swelling at at least initially in the first few months after the surgery.