What’s the recovery time for a nose job?
I want to have a nose job (i think it’s called a rhinoplasty) but I’m worried that it will take too long to recover that I won’t be able to get the time off work. How long does it take after surgery till my face will be back to normal?
American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, American Board of Plastic Surgery
A nose job or rhinoplasty is a surgery designed to alter the
bony and cartilaginous proportions of the nose to provide better craniofacial
and nasal balance and proportion.
Typical rhinoplasties are usually reductive in nature,
although if can also involve an augmentation of the bridge. Reductive rhinoplasty usually involves a
small incision at the base of the nose and some internal nasal incisions. The bridge is reduced, a wide bridge is
narrowed, a bulbous tip is refined and the nostril shaped to match the bridge
and the tip. The tip projection can be
reduced and the nose shortened. Often a
breathing improvement procedure is necessary called a septoplasty to ensure
that while the nose is reduced the breathing improves, as well.
I have been performing cosmetic reduction rhinoplasties for
over 20 years. I was fortunate to be
trained in both plastic surgery and ear, nose, throat, head and neck
oncology. I tell patients that generally
they should take one week off following a rhinoplasty procedure. Although their face and nose does not look
completely normal after this one week, they can simply say they suffered some
random blunt trauma such as a ball hitting the nose or they’re hitting their
nose on a cab door after one week.
There’s often some bruising under the eyes called raccoon eyes and this
will usually disappear in one week or easily be camouflaged.
The final appearance of the nose takes some months following
the surgery. The nasal bridge will look
quite good after 6-12 weeks, but a nasal tip will take up to one year for the
subtly and improvement to manifest itself.
Most patients are quite pleased with the result at 6 weeks
and ecstatic by one year. I always
perform two-dimensional and three-dimensional computer imaging of the nose with
each patient during the consultation to show the type of outcomes that can be
achieved. These computer imagings and
simulated surgeries are very accurate representations of what can occur and
hence there are no surprises.
I hope this information has been of some assistance and best
of luck. For more information, please review the rhinoplasty page.
To schedule a consultation simply fill out the online
consultation request form and a customer service representative will serve you
shortly.
R. Stephen Mulholland, M.D. Certified Plastic Surgeon. Yorkville, Toronto
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada (FRCSC)
Transcribed from video attached:The typical recovery period for a rhinoplasty is quite short. Really in the first 48 hours, they’ll feel fine. They may be a little stuffy and have to take some simple pain medication. After a couple of days they’ll feel fine. In most cases, they’ll wear a splint for about 5 days and they’re ready to go back to work within 5 to 7 days.