Avoid Sneezing
When you feel a sneeze coming on, sneeze through your mouth, not your nose. Sneezing may disturb the healing soft tissues inside your nose. Sneezing is common after rhinoplasty, and your doctor may prescribe an antihistamine to keep it to a minimum. Also, avoid blowing your nose though it may feel congested for several weeks.
Side Effects
You'll have clear mucous drainage for the first few days, with some blood the first night. Occasionally, there is a small amount of blood in the drainage for a few days. Change the gauze pad as often as needed. Rarely, a patient will have a runny nose for several months.
The inside of your nose may be swollen and the incisions may be crusty for several weeks; this may affect breathing through your nose. Breathing through your mouth is drying, so keep water and lip lubricants handy. You might want to sleep with a humidifier running.
Some patients swallow blood during surgery; this may cause short-term nausea and dark stools. If you rest and take in only clear liquids, the nausea should be gone in a day or so.Tell your doctor if your stomach continues to be upset or if you are vomiting.
You may have a low-grade fever and chills for a day or two. Call the doctor if your temperature is more than two degrees above what's normal for you.
Risks and Complications
Nosebleeds are unusual after rhinoplasty, occurring in fewer than one percent of patients. Don't worry if you do get a nosebleed. Simply lie back (not completely flat) with your head elevated and place a soft ice bag or an ice-cold washcloth over your nose. Until the nose stops bleeding, don't bend over or do anything else that might raise your blood pressure. Relaxing is essential to allow the bleeding to stop.
In very few patients, small burst blood vessels appear on the skin as tiny red dots. These may eventually disappear and in any case are inconspicuous.
Other rare complications include nerve injury, injury to the septum, obstruction of nasal passages, permanent numbness, allergic reaction to sutures, and toxic shock syndrome. If a skilled, experienced surgeon performs your procedure, the risk of serious complications is much less than one percent.
Combining Rhinoplasty with Other Procedures
It's not uncommon for facial plastic surgeons to recommend chin augmentation along with rhinoplasty, since a small chin can make the nose look larger. In fact, chin augmentation is usually recommended in about 10 percent of rhinoplasty patients. You might also benefit from
laser skin resurfacing or eyelid surgery at the time of your nose reshaping. More complex procedures, such as facelifts, may be done a week or more before or after rhinoplasty, or at the same time.
Questions to Ask the Surgeon ?
- Will I have nasal packing after surgery?
- Can I use concealing makeup to cover bruising?
- When will I see what my new nose looks like?
- When can I go back to work?
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