Social Downtime After Rhinoplasty

Downtime varies tremendously from surgeon to surgeon depending on what techniques they use to minimize bruising and swelling.  In addition, each patient will have a variable amount of swelling.  The vast majority of rhinoplasty patients in my practice return to work one week after a procedure.  Patients in the fashion industry typically may look pretty good in person at one month, but will start to photograph better at the three month mark. Patients with a once a lifetime event (hopefully) such as a wedding should have the procedure at a minimum of three months prior as the photographs taken from the event will likely be viewed many times there after.  The nose itself takes at least a year for the majority of the swelling to exit the nose, but most likely slightly longer.

Your office should work with you to help minimize swelling and bruising.  Every nose is different and may require a different approach or amount of time before a swelling milestone is reached.  

Even though recovery from rhinoplasty is highly individual, most of our patients can return to social activities within 2 weeks.  On the other hand, in our practice many patients  return to work after about a week even though there might be still some minimal tel tale signs. Rhinoplasty is one of the more difficult procedures for a surgeon to master. The more experienced and talented surgeon, the less surgical trauma during rhinoplasty, the quicker recovery.

You might find it insightful to read my article "The Art of Sculpting the Nose" which can be found on my web site under "publications"