Social Downtime After Rhinoplasty

Most of my patients are back to their social activities 7-10 days after their rhinoplasty. Bruising should resolve by this time and any discomfort will have diminished significantly.

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.