Uneven Swelling 3 Weeks After Rhinoplasty? (photo)

Though swelling does substantially decrease in the initial months following your rhinoplasty, three weeks is not enough time to assess the final result of your new nose. Swelling is normal in any nose, even one that never had surgery. Many factors affect swelling such as salt intake, allergies, alcohol consumption and hormones. I understand that you are worried about the uneven swelling that you are experiencing, but swelling can and often does take a full year to fully heal. My best advice would be to track the progress of your swelling, without over-analyzing your situation. If the uneven swelling does persist in the coming weeks or months, you can always schedule a follow-up visit with the surgeon that performed your nose job. In the worst case scenario, revision rhinoplasty is always a viable option. 

Uneven or asymmetric swelling of the nose is very normal 3 weeks after an open rhinoplasty. I would not worry about these differences this early in the recovery period. It may take an entire year for all the swelling to resolve and only then can you fully assess the results and evenness. 

You need to have patience with your body as it begins to heal. The skin, bone and cartilage are all traumatized during surgery. Inflammation (swelling) is the normal response and will help your nose to heal and look beautiful in the end. Right now, concentrate on other things you like to do and let your nose and under eyes take the time to heal. It can take up a year for your final results. I hope this helps.

The base of the nose holds onto swelling for the longest time, so slight nostril asymmetry is common early after rhinoplasty. Your up close photos are a bit difficult to appreciate significant asymmetry of yopur nostrils, so this is likely all swelling. If in doubt, visit your surgeon for an evaluation. Hope this helps Dr Joseph. 

If these are pre and post photos then on studying them closely it looks like your left nostril rim was always slightly higher than right so thisnjist reflects your existing normal subtle asymmetry Post op some asymmetrical swellingcan add to this 

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your photos. However, without the before photos and full facial post-op photos it is hard to determine the cause of your asymmetrical swelling.

That said, it is not uncommon that one side of a patient's nose be more or less swollen than the other. At less than a month post-op, you are early assessing the results of you rhinoplsty.

I recommend that you be a little more patient and prevent any nasal trauma from taking place allowing nature to take its course and the swelling to subside. Usually, the final results of a rhinoplasty with an average nasal skin thickness are established at about 12 months post-surgery.

I hope this helps.

Thank you for you inquiry and the best of wishes to you.

Dr. Sajjadian

I'm not really sure what you are looking at. The nostrils look pretty even to me. I would recommend that you not spend so much time scrutinizing minute differences in your nose and allow for the surgery to completely heal. It will easily take 3-6 months before anyone can really make a judgement about the results.

Good question. First off, let me say that no nose is perfectly symmetric either before or after rhinoplasty. There are always some little asymmetries that you can find in noses, faces, etc. when you are looking for them. In your photo, I have to look carefully to even find an asymmetry, and it is very subtle at that. This is something that only you or your surgeon would notice and will not affect the outcome. You are still too early postop and some of the differences may be secondary to residual swelling, so you need to give it at least 3-6 months before you have a better sense of where you are headed. If there is a 1-2 mm difference in the end after healing, you need to consider whether surgery would make it better, especially since surgery could sometimes also make it worse. It's good to have an open discussion with your surgeon about your concerns and ask whether he or she thinks it can realistically be improved.
-Dr. David Mattos, New York Plastic Surgical Group

You do appear to have a nostril asymmetry. However you are still too early in the recovery process, and also the two sides of the nose don't heal at the same rate. I would wait until your six month post op visit to asses if these changes are resolving, or it appears that it will be a permanent issue.

Thank you for your question. 
With any nasal surgery, the name of the game is patience. At one week, we would expect you to have quite a bit of swelling and bruising still noticeable and may have trouble breathing out of one or both nostrils. By the end of two weeks, typically, you will still be swollen but look more like you have a bad cold, rather than post surgical. Swelling can take up to a year to be completely gone, however, by 9 weeks you will look very good and should see big difference from your pre-op pics. I encourage you to stay patient.