Is Vomiting After Rhinoplasty Common?

Nausea and vomiting after rhinoplasty can occur due to even a small amount of blood irritating the stomach.  This can sometimes be prevented with the placement of something called a throat pack.  Once you are asleep and under general anesthesia, a long string of guaze is placed in the throat to catch any of the blood coming down from the nose.  Once the procedure is complete, the guaze is removed.  This can only be done if your rhinoplasty is under general anesthesia and you are intubated (breathing tube).  Otherwise, you would not tolerate placement of this guaze and it would also compromise your airway.  Antinausea medications such as Zofran or Phenergan can also help. 

Thank you for your question. Postoperative nausea and vomiting is not an uncommon phenomenon in Surgery, especially with general anesthesia. Certain procedures, such as a rhinoplasty, have a slightly higher incidence of such, approximately 10%.While it is nearly impossible to determine your chance of vomiting after this procedure, there are some measures that can be taken to help reduce the possibility. Things such as what you mentioned (antiemetics and a patch) are helpful. Discussing your history of nausea/vomiting with your anesthesiologist is useful, as s/he can ensure that you are well-hydrated, given intraoperative anti-nausea medications, steroids, and given anesthesia least prone to postoperative nausea and vomiting. Lastly, blood within the stomach is a stimulant for such issues, so minimizing secretions into the stomach as well as aspirating prior to awakening are important. Hope that this helps! Best wishes for a wonderful result!

Nausea and vomiting after rhinoplasty can occur from either a response to an anesthetic or blood dripping into the stomach. I have devised a method to prevent blood going into the stomach, and although my anesthesiologist gives many medicines to prevent nausea and vomiting, it still can occur with a rate in my practice of about 5 percent despite all anti-nausea medications given.

As you suggest, anesthesia and blood in the stomach are the most common causes of vomiting.

Personally, I believe that twilight anesthesia reduces nausea after surgery. Intravenous medications and anti-vomiting pills can also be given to help reduce the likelihood of nausea after surgery.

One thing you can do is ask family members how they reacted to general anesthesia. If your parents and/or siblings did not have severe nausea after anesthesia, then it is likely you will not have vomiting issues either.

Hope this helps and best of luck.

After having Rhinoplasty surgery, you can experience nausea/vomiting. There's three main causes. The first can be from the anesthesia, which can last up to a few hours post operation. Also, the vomiting can be related to swallowing blood or the pain medicine you're prescribed. We would prescribe anti-nausea(Zofran), the drug currently available for preventing nausea or vomiting, that is taken the day of surgery. Your plastic Surgeon will discuss any options with you during your consultation.

There are numerous methods to minimize nausea and vomitting after surgery and you should discuss your fears with your surgeon. However, this is not always entirely avoidable despite the best of techniques.