Swelling After Rhinoplasty? (photo)

Dear MBS88, although you are unquestionably swollen, you have to remember that you are 9 days post-op.  The questions I would ask my patient would be: Are you avoiding bending over, strenuous activity, heavy lifting, or any other things that would raise your blood pressure?  If you are doing any of these things, please stop these activities immediately.  It is completely normal to have some degree of swelling and to have some anxiety about your result.  Please remember that the most important factors in your healing at this point are time and patience

Generally speaking, it can take 6 to 12 months to completely heal after surgery. Please keep in touch with your surgeon or his/her clinical team to discuss your ongoing concerns.

Immediately after the cast is removed, it is common for the nose to look more defined. After the compression has been removed, the skin and soft tissues can swell and this can take weeks to months to significantly improve. After rhinoplasty, tip shape is typically the last thing to settle before seeing the final result; this can take 12 months or longer. During this time you will notice that the size of your tip decreases as swelling resolves and subtle details and tip definition appear. At 9 days following rhinoplasty, you are still very early in your recovery. Recovery after rhinoplasty will vary based on the person, characteristics of the nasal tissues and what was done during surgery. Around the 4-6 week mark, most patients are able to appreciate most of the changes from surgery as a significant amount of swelling has resolved. However, it can take somewhere in and around 12-18 months to see the final results. The areas with thicker skin in the nose such as the tip, alar rims and radix will require longer to settle. Sometimes the transition point between the nasal bones (above) and upper lateral cartilages (below) that coincides with the hump can be slightly full in the first few weeks. Massage of the area may be recommended by your surgeon to help break up scar tissue in this area. In other instances, the fullness may be due to a residual dorsal hump and this will not completely go away after all of the swelling has resolved-only time will tell. It's hard but important to stay patient during your recovery and to be diligent attending your follow-up appointments with your surgeon.

At this stage after surgery, I usually tell my patients to not even look at their nose. Certainly at the point of the cast being removed, the tissues of the nose are still very swollen. The region where the bump was taken down can appear a bit full due to the work done in that area, and the tip will certainly take even longer to look "normal".

Give it some time, and do your best to be patient. Usually by the following week, your nose will start to look better. At the two month mark, you will be much more likely to see the changes that were made.

9 days is very soon after surgery, and you are right around the peak of your swelling. In general, the final result of a rhinoplasty is not evident for 18-24 months following surgery. 70% of the swelling is resolved after the first 3 months, and the remainder goes down over time. Swelling can be influenced by thickness of the patient's skin, whether tip work was performed, and whether or not the procedure was a revision. From here, the best thing is to be patient and see how you heal. If necessary, your surgeon can perform injections of kenalog mixed with 5-Flourouracil to help bring down the swelling. I hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck with the remainder of your recovery.   

You're really swollen.  I think your rhinoplasty looks very good.  I suggest to gently rub hirudoid cream into the nasal bridge for 10 days. The visible bruising indicates that this might help your swelling diminish a little faster.

All the best to you.

      Although I do not know how you looked preoperatively, the postoperative photos do reveal a great deal of bruising and swelling along the dorsum of the nose.  There is nothing abnormal about this swelling.  In the closed rhinoplasty that I perform, swelling is typically much reduced by 3 or 4 weeks.  I take pictures for my website at this time if appropriate.  However, everyone is different.  

 

     I would say that your nose looks very nice for this early date, the looks swollen but elevated and not boxy.  The hump looks like it has been reduced adequately.  Your surgeon probably did a great job.  Also, he or she can feel the nose to determine if the hump you see is swelling, which it probably is.

 

       The nose continuing to swell should not worry you to any great deal.  You just had the splint taken off, which was compressing the tissue.  Now, the tissue is swelling more without the compression.   If this concerns you, the surgeon or nurse can retape the nose to offer additional compression. However, this likely has no effect on the final result. 

 

         I think you should not worry.  Good Luck.

You are only 9 days after a rhinoplasty and with a considerable but within normal amounts of swelling. BE PATIENT!

There is nothing in these photos that screams "big hump present"! Though you did not provide pre-op photos, your results appear to be very good so far. I see nothing that is blatantly concerning.

You need to give this up to a year to see the more "final" results.

While it is true that the nose will look quite well after the splint is removed, one of the primary functions of the splint is to control swelling, and the nasal bridge up between the eyes can swell just after. Perhaps your surgeon did not take the hump down enough, but most likely he did. It is too tender as yet to massage, but when it is not, you can gently massage and smooth the bridge.

 You are extremey early in the post Rhinoplasty healing phase and only your Rhinoplasty Surgeon knows how and how much the dorsal hump was removed.  You should ask him/her to explain this to you and show you whether, what you are seeing on the bridge at this point, is soft tissue swelling or a persistent hump.