Sunburn or Redness on Nose After Rhinoplasty

Dear rhinoplasty patient from Dallas,
You had your Rhinoplasty 7 weeks ago and started to noticed redness and tenderness on your nose after sun exposure and diving. This sounds like sun burn on tip of your nose and exacerbation of post operative swelling. I doubt it if this is infection or serious matter. Avoid sun exposure, apply moisturizer. If not improved or worsen in one week, you may want to contact your surgeon that point. Good luck
 

Suntanning after rhinoplasty isn't a good idea. The overlying skin is already traumatized by the surgery and is therefore more sensitive. A sunburn causes more swelling. And swelling, both the patient and surgeon want to resolve as quickly as possible.  Your redness may also be infection although this is less likely because it isn't shortly after the rhinoplasty.

You should talk with your physician to ensure that you are not suffering from another problem. Get a higher rated sunscreen or sunblock that contains zinc or titanium oxide.Time should allow the redness to resolve.

In general, your nose has less natural protection from the sun right after rhinoplasty. All the tissue was just elevated off of the internal structure of the nose, including the bone and cartilage, and blood vessels were coagulated in order to do this. There fore we weakened the nose's natural defense since we weakened its blood supply. This blood supply grows back , but it can take quite a bit of time to happen. In the first 6 weeks, your nose is less naturally resistant to UV rays and is more likely to burn and get discolored. Also, since your nose is mostly numb early on, its less likely that you are to notice the problem until its too late. I recommend you stay out of the sun as much as possible in the first 6 weeks after surgery. If you are in the sun for short periods of time, stay in the shade, and wear a big hat and a good sunblock. Do not wear sun glasses in the first 6 weeks, or any glasses for that matter, if osteotomies were performed, (breaking of the nasal bones). You can get your nose wet as soon as the splint comes off, but I would be careful about chlorinated pools early on until the incision is fully healed an more mature, as the chlorine can irritate the incision. The gym and anything that increases you blood pressure will increase the swelling of your nose and delay your healing time. I recommend 6 weeks for this as well.Best Wishes, Pablo Prichard, MD

I hope it is only sensitive skin that got sunburned. Are you sure it is not an infection?  You may want to speak with your doctor.

The redness is likely postoperative changes associated with healing of the incision (if it was an open rhinoplasty).  If it is related to the sun, it will go away in a few days.  If it does not resolve or starts to look worse, then you should have it evaluated.

The skin of the nose will be more sensitive to the sun than prior to surgery.  If you are using a good physical sunblock with Zinc Oxide, you should be fine.  I would be concerned however that you have developed a slight infection in the tip of the nose.  This is usually caused by Staph (a type of bacteria that lives in the nose) and you should call to make an appointment to see your surgeon promptly.

Before guessing - I'd recommend you make an appointment to see your surgeon immediately.

You want to make sure you don't have an infection, although it's possible it cold be sunburn if you burn easily and this is similar to your sunburns in the past.  Please don't wait or guess!  Please return to your doctor and have him help you figure out what's going on and what to do for it.

Dr. Cat Begovic M.D.