Upper Lip and Nose Tip Immovable After Rhinoplasty

After any surgical procedure, your body forms scar tissue for a period of 6 weeks (called the proliferative phase). During this time, your body deposits alot of collagen into the area of injury to help heal it.
Collagen acts to hold the tissues together and can create the sensation of stiffness and immobility that is common with any surgical intervention. In hand /knee surgery, we send patients to physcial/occupational therapists to help things get moving.
I would advise you to stop maniputlating your nose. Nasal surgery can be quite delicated and your frequent pulling with your hand may disrupt the stitches holding wounds together and alter the intended result.
After 6 weeks, wounds start to soften when they enter the remodeling phase.
In regards to the numbness, there are some nerves in the region of the base of the columella that enter the lip and may create some numbness. In most cases, this resolves as it sounds it has done in yours.
Hope this helps!

Stiffness of the nose and tip can occur following rhinoplasty surgery.  This phenomenon is more likely when extensive dissection is performed at the junction between the nasal cartilage and lip soft tissue.
            Although it’s impossible to know exactly what was done in your case without an operative report, it appears that both bone and cartilage were removed from the distal nose.  In addition, it appears that the depresser nasi muscles were detached.

            These maneuvers involve extensive soft tissue dissection which may be the source of your symptoms.  Under these circumstances, prolonged swelling, scarring and structural changes can result in the symptoms that you describe.  Structural changes from the use of cartilage grafts and non-absorbable sutures can cause temporary immobility of the soft tissue.  A more likely cause is scarring and prolonged swelling.

            All of these problems should resolve with the passage of time.  In some cases, resolution of lip tightness can be facilitated with gentle massage.  It’s important to realize that resolution of these problems may take up to a year following surgery.

            In the interim it’s important to be patient and maintain good communication with your plastic surgeon.  Your surgeon should be able to reassure you and alleviate your anxiety. 

Lisa,
I agree with the other surgeon's comments. I think there are several possibilities for your upper lip stiffness:
1. Weakness in the upper lip obicularis oris muscle;
2. Scar tissue adhesions after removal of the depressor muscle and nasal spine;
3. A suture to secure the caudal septum to the nasal spine may have caught a bit of the upper lip soft tissue and muscle.
I would advise against trying to pull the upper lip down, but it is ok to exercise this muscle by puckering your lips. I suspect that after 6 to 8 weeks, your problem will resolve.