Why does rhinoplasty recovery take so long? We hear over and over again how a nose job can take several months to recover from. But why is that? What makes rhinoplasty such a chore for your body to heal? Part of that, of course, has to do with your nose itself. So let’s take a look at some of the reasons why rhinoplasty recovery takes so long compared to other plastic surgery procedures.
Sometimes It Sure Feels Like Rhinoplasty Recovery Takes a Long Time
There’s no getting around the fact that surgical rhinoplasty requires a lengthy recovery period. But most patients who accept that also want to know, why does rhinoplasty recovery take so long? Is there anything that can shorten rhinoplasty recovery periods. The answer to both of those questions has to do with how your body heals.
Rhinoplasty recovery takes so long in part because the nose is so sensitive (the nose has more nerve density than most other areas of the body) and so utilized. You’re always breathing, so the nose never really gets much of a break. There are other reasons, as well, that have to do with blood flow.
When you get rhinoplasty surgery, you could be looking at minimal swelling that lasts up to twelve months. And that can be frustrating for many rhinoplasty patients. They want their results in a more immediate fashion, and it’s hard to blame them for that. Even still, I wonder if part of the reason that rhinoplasty recovery takes so long is because the procedure delivers such astounding transformations. Let’s take a look at what rhinoplasty entails and a few more reasons why might rhinoplasty recovery take so long.
What Happens During a Rhinoplasty Procedure?
The first reason that rhinoplasty recovery tends to take so long is that, well, a lot happens during your procedure! There are several steps involved, but we can probably break it down like this:
- Incision: Your plastic surgeon will make an incision on your nose. Sometimes it’s just inside the nostril. But most often, it’s right under the bridge of the nose (that piece of tissue between each nostril).
- Skin manipulation: When surgeons perform what’s called an open rhinoplasty, the skin of the nose is pulled back over and above the nose in order to give surgeons greater accessibility to everything inside your nose (ex: cartilage and muscle).
- Primary transformation: Your surgeon will then work on your primary transformation, either by changing the shape of your cartilage, trimming away excess skin or moving around other tissues. In other words, this is where the magic happens!
- Closing everything back up: Whether you underwent an open or a closed rhinoplasty, the next step is to suture or stitch your nose back up. Once that happens and you recover for a few hours, you’ll be able to go home (with some very specific recovery instructions).
Rhinoplasty procedures are capable of making significant changes to your nose–and those changes help explain why a so-called Nose Job is still one of the most popular plastic surgery procedures on the market today.
What is Rhinoplasty Recovery Like?
Rhinoplasty recovery can be both uncomfortable and enduring. Most patients will be through the worst of it after a few weeks, with lingering discomfort and swelling for six to twelve months. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when thinking about rhinoplasty recovery:
- Patients are often instructed to wear a brace or bandage around the nose. This is to prevent injury to the nose (which would then damage your results).
- There may be significant swelling in the first few weeks after surgery
- The nose is an incredibly sensitive part of the body, so most patients are instructed to use medication to help manage the discomfort and pain after surgery.
- It may be some time before you see your newly transformed nose, as the swelling will obscure your final results until it recedes.
How long your recovery takes will depend on how quickly your body tends to heal and on the amount of work you had performed.
Can You Bypass Rhinoplasty Recovery?
There are plenty of patients who want to avoid rhinoplasty recovery if at all possible. The only option for those patients is something called non surgical nose job. Developed in Los Angeles, Non Surgical Rhinoplasty uses injectable fillers to change the size and shape of the nose. The good thing is that there’s no recovery period and you can see results right away. The downside is that the results tend to be subtle and temporary (lasting for anywhere between twelve and twenty-four months). That said, a non surgical approach is certainly viable for some patients.
Is Rhinoplasty Recovery Worth it?
Whether a rhinoplasty recovery period is worth the results is, ultimately, up to the patient. For some patients, the desire to change the nose is going to be the driving force. For other patients, a non surgical nose job just might do the trick. Finding the best way forward will be between you and your surgeon.
Why does rhinoplasty recovery take so long? For a multitude of reasons, but you should definitely discuss your concerns with your plastic surgeon during your consultation. That will be the best place for you to get answers specific to you and your nose.
