Rhinoplasty: What To Expect Before And After Surgery

Rhinoplasty, also known as a nose job, is a surgery carried out to change the appearance of your nose. If you have decided to undergo this surgery, it's important to understand everything that will happen to you before and after. The surgery is a short procedure that can even be conducted in the doctor's office.

During Surgery

During surgery, you'll either be under general or local anaesthesia. When you are under general anaesthesia, you'll sleep throughout the process and won't have any idea of what would be happening. On the other hand, when you are under local anaesthesia, you'll be awake and will know all that is going on around you. Only the area around your nose would be numb.

Surgery normally takes one to two hours. During this operation, your surgeon separates skin from bone and cartilage. The bone and cartilage are then modelled to the desired size and shape. After this is done, your skin is put back to its place. This is the closed type of surgery.

Other surgeons may use the open type of surgery, whereby a cut is made in the middle part of your nose near the upper lip. The scar left is rarely noticeable.

After The Nose Job

After your surgeon has performed the surgery:

- You will have nasal bandages or a surgical splint on the nose. These help in maintaining the shape of the new nose framework.

- You will experience slight bleeding and a stuffy nose for a few weeks. The nasal packing will help you control bleeding.

- Bruising and inflammation are a normal occurrence and usually fade away within the first two weeks. Bruising can, however, improve within the first days.

- You will also have minor swelling that will subside within the first two weeks (if the closed technique was used on you) or four weeks, in the case of the open technique.

- With the open technique, there would normally be a tiny scar under the tip of your nose. For the closed technique, no scar would be visible.

- Stitches usually dissolve in a week's time if the closed technique is used. If the open technique is used, the patient would have to go back to hospital for removal of stitches under the nose tip, after five or six days.

- Pain and discomfort is also normal. The patient is advised to take pain relieving medication for 2-7 days. If nasal bones are broken, pain medication is prescribed by the surgeon to be taken for 5-10 days.

- If you had surgery to correct nasal septum which was crooked, you'll notice that your breathing would have improved. Swelling could block your nasal passage because of the surgery, but after the swelling subsides you will be able to breathe well.

You can go back to your daily routine a week after your nose job. Your doctor will also give you dates for follow-up visits to ensure that you don't have any complications. Most patients begin to see the end results of the nose job after about three months.


----------------------------------------------------
Dr. Tavakoli has performed very many surgeries. This makes him more experienced than many plastic surgeons in Australia. His clinic, Plastic Surgery Sydney is always flocked with patients who need his services. Read more at http://www.plasticsurgerysydney.com.au/procedures/rhinoplasty/ for more information.