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*Treatment results may vary
My List of Recovery Items
--- What I Ordered ---
• Soft gel Ice packs (avoid using these too close to your nose)
• Lip balm and/or Vaseline (TBH I didn’t need to buy a huge thing of vaseline but it was nice to have to coat my lips overnight when I tried to sleep)
• Travel neck pillow for sleeping. I ended up buying a body / pregnancy pillow and I’d highly recommend that! Or if you have 4 pillows you could make your own makeshift body pillow.
• Biotene Moisturizing Mouth Spray (Or some sort of dry mouth spray) - You might be able to find in the grocery store but I had to purchase on Amazon
• Button up pajamas and comfy pants. You don’t want to wear clothing that you have to put over your head.
• Micropore hypoallergenic surgical tape - I ended up not using this because my Dr gave me both the tape and gauze and his supply lasted me the entire time.
--- Grocery Store / Dr Supplied ---
•Straws - you’re going to want to drink EVERYTHING through a straw.
• Orajel - I don’t know if your teeth will hurt but mine did. This helped take away the ache. Honestly, my teeth bothered me way more than the stuffy nose!!!!
• Q-tips for cleaning your nose. The Dr may give you some but you’ll want a HUGE supply of your own to get gunk out because you can’t blow your nose for quite a bit after surgery (I think about two weeks). But then, your nose will be swollen and you won’t want to blow through it anyways, so a q-tip is good to get in there.
• Baby or travel sized toothbrush
• TheraBreath Dry Mouth Lozenges - Great for when your mouth is dry BUT also they help settle your stomach
• A good hand moisturizer. I loved CeraVe.
• Arnica tablets for under your tongue - HOLY GRAIL!!!! Seriously minimized my bruising and swelling.
• Arnica cream (don’t apply near cast because it could loosen it) - I applied it to my cheeks, jaw and the sides of my eye bone maybe about 3 times a day.
• Nasal saline spray - your Dr will probably give you some but I also bought Major deep sea premium saline nasal moisturizing spray
• Afrin - I NEVER used it. I was so nervous my nose would get “addicted” to it. My nose did get stuffy at times but never that bad where I needed to use afrin. Your Dr will give you a bottle of it anyways for the “just in case”.
• Zinc - I believe this helped with the nose and healing
• Extra strength Tylenol OR Signature Care Extra Strength Pain Relief Acetaminophen
• Vitamin D3
• Vitamin A
• Hydrogen peroxide - for cleaning your nose
• Gauze - My Dr gave me enough gauze but I bought a box of 25 pads just in case. Never had to open them though but hey now I have extra for my first aid kit.
• Summer’s eve cleansing cloths or something along these lines because you really don’t want to risk showering and loosening up your cast
• Dry shampoo *totally optional* but it felt nice to freshen up
--- Food ---
• Pineapple juice
• Oatmeal
• Chobani greek yogurt
• Peppermints
• Jell-o
• Saltine crackers
• Low sodium soups (I lived off of potato soup and Chicken noodle soup)
• Smoothies
• Pudding
• Apple sauce
--- Notes ---
Bromelain (found in pineapple juice, helps with inflammation) -- I know pineapple juice is added to my list above and you should STOP taking it 2 weeks before surgery as it could increase bleeding. But after surgery drink ALL the pineapple juice lol. Between that, the anicare tablets and ice packs, my bruising was minimal.
Do not try and do any chores that first week! Seriously, take it easy the first 72 hours. Only get up to change your gauze and clean your nose. If you can have someone stay with you, don’t feel bad asking them to bring you stuff. This will help minimize swelling!
Don’t be afraid to really get that dried blood and gunk cleaned up around your nostrils. It might hurt just a tad the first time you do it, but if you get yourself cleaned well then every time afterwards will be easy. Also, your Dr should show you how to clean it without damaging anything. And it was good to practice using a saline nose rinse before the op if you've never used one before. It's super simple but knowing what it feels like will help you be less nervous spraying it up into your nose after surgery.
If you have an open septo/rhinoplasty DO NOT get tempted to pull out the removable sutures.
Take photos! I took photos morning and night for two weeks straight and then once a week for 3 months and now I’ve only done photos for appts and the upcoming 6,9 and 12 months. It’s so fun to look back and see how far you’ve come.
Take a Tylenol before you go get the splints/cast removed.
Fill prescription prior to surgery.
--- In the photo attached to this post "Cleaning Station" (top photo) ---
I kept the following items ready in the bathroom for when I needed to clean my nose. It made life SO easy, especially in the middle of the night when you need to deal with the situation.
• q-tips
• Hydrogen peroxide
• A small bowl to add a little bit of hydrogen peroxide for dipping clean q-tips into
• Deep sea nasal spray
• Neosporin or the dr might give you “bacitracin zinc ointment”
• The gauze from the dr
• The tape from the dr
• Arnicare gel
• Orajel
--- In the photo attached to this post "Medicine Station" (bottom photo) ---
In my kitchen I kept the following items and wrote down the time I took certain things and set my phone timer to stay up on meds:
• Prescription pain meds
• Arnicare tablets
• Zinc
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin D3
• TheraBreath Dry Mouth Lozenges
• Biotene
So I know that was a long post but these types of things were what I searched all around RealSelf for prior to my surgery to make sure I had everything I needed. I didn't attach links into the post to keep it from getting too crazy and cluttered but I hope the photo attached of the items I used will help anyone find what I listed.
• Soft gel Ice packs (avoid using these too close to your nose)
• Lip balm and/or Vaseline (TBH I didn’t need to buy a huge thing of vaseline but it was nice to have to coat my lips overnight when I tried to sleep)
• Travel neck pillow for sleeping. I ended up buying a body / pregnancy pillow and I’d highly recommend that! Or if you have 4 pillows you could make your own makeshift body pillow.
• Biotene Moisturizing Mouth Spray (Or some sort of dry mouth spray) - You might be able to find in the grocery store but I had to purchase on Amazon
• Button up pajamas and comfy pants. You don’t want to wear clothing that you have to put over your head.
• Micropore hypoallergenic surgical tape - I ended up not using this because my Dr gave me both the tape and gauze and his supply lasted me the entire time.
--- Grocery Store / Dr Supplied ---
•Straws - you’re going to want to drink EVERYTHING through a straw.
• Orajel - I don’t know if your teeth will hurt but mine did. This helped take away the ache. Honestly, my teeth bothered me way more than the stuffy nose!!!!
• Q-tips for cleaning your nose. The Dr may give you some but you’ll want a HUGE supply of your own to get gunk out because you can’t blow your nose for quite a bit after surgery (I think about two weeks). But then, your nose will be swollen and you won’t want to blow through it anyways, so a q-tip is good to get in there.
• Baby or travel sized toothbrush
• TheraBreath Dry Mouth Lozenges - Great for when your mouth is dry BUT also they help settle your stomach
• A good hand moisturizer. I loved CeraVe.
• Arnica tablets for under your tongue - HOLY GRAIL!!!! Seriously minimized my bruising and swelling.
• Arnica cream (don’t apply near cast because it could loosen it) - I applied it to my cheeks, jaw and the sides of my eye bone maybe about 3 times a day.
• Nasal saline spray - your Dr will probably give you some but I also bought Major deep sea premium saline nasal moisturizing spray
• Afrin - I NEVER used it. I was so nervous my nose would get “addicted” to it. My nose did get stuffy at times but never that bad where I needed to use afrin. Your Dr will give you a bottle of it anyways for the “just in case”.
• Zinc - I believe this helped with the nose and healing
• Extra strength Tylenol OR Signature Care Extra Strength Pain Relief Acetaminophen
• Vitamin D3
• Vitamin A
• Hydrogen peroxide - for cleaning your nose
• Gauze - My Dr gave me enough gauze but I bought a box of 25 pads just in case. Never had to open them though but hey now I have extra for my first aid kit.
• Summer’s eve cleansing cloths or something along these lines because you really don’t want to risk showering and loosening up your cast
• Dry shampoo *totally optional* but it felt nice to freshen up
--- Food ---
• Pineapple juice
• Oatmeal
• Chobani greek yogurt
• Peppermints
• Jell-o
• Saltine crackers
• Low sodium soups (I lived off of potato soup and Chicken noodle soup)
• Smoothies
• Pudding
• Apple sauce
--- Notes ---
Bromelain (found in pineapple juice, helps with inflammation) -- I know pineapple juice is added to my list above and you should STOP taking it 2 weeks before surgery as it could increase bleeding. But after surgery drink ALL the pineapple juice lol. Between that, the anicare tablets and ice packs, my bruising was minimal.
Do not try and do any chores that first week! Seriously, take it easy the first 72 hours. Only get up to change your gauze and clean your nose. If you can have someone stay with you, don’t feel bad asking them to bring you stuff. This will help minimize swelling!
Don’t be afraid to really get that dried blood and gunk cleaned up around your nostrils. It might hurt just a tad the first time you do it, but if you get yourself cleaned well then every time afterwards will be easy. Also, your Dr should show you how to clean it without damaging anything. And it was good to practice using a saline nose rinse before the op if you've never used one before. It's super simple but knowing what it feels like will help you be less nervous spraying it up into your nose after surgery.
If you have an open septo/rhinoplasty DO NOT get tempted to pull out the removable sutures.
Take photos! I took photos morning and night for two weeks straight and then once a week for 3 months and now I’ve only done photos for appts and the upcoming 6,9 and 12 months. It’s so fun to look back and see how far you’ve come.
Take a Tylenol before you go get the splints/cast removed.
Fill prescription prior to surgery.
--- In the photo attached to this post "Cleaning Station" (top photo) ---
I kept the following items ready in the bathroom for when I needed to clean my nose. It made life SO easy, especially in the middle of the night when you need to deal with the situation.
• q-tips
• Hydrogen peroxide
• A small bowl to add a little bit of hydrogen peroxide for dipping clean q-tips into
• Deep sea nasal spray
• Neosporin or the dr might give you “bacitracin zinc ointment”
• The gauze from the dr
• The tape from the dr
• Arnicare gel
• Orajel
--- In the photo attached to this post "Medicine Station" (bottom photo) ---
In my kitchen I kept the following items and wrote down the time I took certain things and set my phone timer to stay up on meds:
• Prescription pain meds
• Arnicare tablets
• Zinc
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin D3
• TheraBreath Dry Mouth Lozenges
• Biotene
So I know that was a long post but these types of things were what I searched all around RealSelf for prior to my surgery to make sure I had everything I needed. I didn't attach links into the post to keep it from getting too crazy and cluttered but I hope the photo attached of the items I used will help anyone find what I listed.
6 months post op (a couple weeks past)
A couple weeks ago marked my 6 months post op. At the 3 months mark I had a check-in appointment and everything went well! I let my doctor know that I was very happy with the results and being able to breathe so much better. I also let him know that sometimes I feel like I see a very slight curve in the left side. But it's still a little early to do anything about it because there was still swelling in my tip and on the right side. If need be once, I get to my 1 year post op there are some options I can do to get it touched up.
Now that I'm 6 months post op I feel like the swelling in the right side of my nose is starting to decrease more each week. I've also been able to blow out my nose no problem and my nose is no longer sensitive to accidental bumping; for example like if my shirt bumps it or when I'm washing my face. I love the way it looks and I can't believe how quickly the months go by. I'm looking forward to my 1 year to see how the graph has settled and how the swelling has disappeared.
Now that I'm 6 months post op I feel like the swelling in the right side of my nose is starting to decrease more each week. I've also been able to blow out my nose no problem and my nose is no longer sensitive to accidental bumping; for example like if my shirt bumps it or when I'm washing my face. I love the way it looks and I can't believe how quickly the months go by. I'm looking forward to my 1 year to see how the graph has settled and how the swelling has disappeared.
8 weeks post op
Today marks 8 weeks post op! I'm still amazed at the results when I compare how my nose looks today with how it used to look before. There's definitely some swelling still and the bridge of my nose is sensitive to touch. I make sure to be extra gentle when I do have to touch it when washing my face in the morning and at night. My skin is oily now post op so I'm trying to remedy that by finding a new skin care routine. Otherwise, the healing process is going well and I don't think about my nose at all! In a good way of course. I don't waste energy worrying about how it looks from certain angles and I'm not so insecure anymore. Also, I sleep so much better now because I'm not struggling to breathe through my nose! The incision site is healing well too and is super hard to see it anymore.
Provider Review
Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon
2940 Squalicum Pkwy., Bellingham, Washington