What is the typical post-operative schedule right after a Rhinoplasty surgery?

The toughest time for a patient during their recovery from rhinoplasty is right after surgery, particularly in the first week. Rather than asking our patients tough it out on their own, we have them come into the office frequently during the first two weeks after surgery to clean their noses so they look and feel better. These frequent early visits allow us to closely monitor your healing, and to reassure you when things are going as expected or to treat your expeditiously if intervention is required.

A typical rhinoplasty post-operative schedule is as follows:

Day 1 - remover light nasal packing and cleaning

Day 3 - suture removal only if nostril narrowing was performed.

Day 5-7 - transcolumellar suture and splint removal; nose often retaped

Day 10-12 - tape removal and cleaning.

During these appointments, our patients' noses are meticulously cleaned at each visit. The doctor will tailor your home care regimen according to the healing progress and what the individual needs. During these visits we may inject the nose with steroids to reduce swelling and decrease scar tissue formation early on in the recovery where such treatments will have the greatest impact. 

While the exact schedule may vary from person to person, our longer follow ups are generally scheduled at 1 month, 2 months (possible), 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. Swelling may persist for many months after rhinoplasty. Therefore we like to see our patients back regularly to monitor their swelling for at least 1 year for primary rhinoplasties and 2-3 years for revision rhinoplasties.

Our patients are always welcome to follow up after surgery.  In fact, our practice has some incredible 25+ year rhinoplasty follow ups for patients who return many years later for other surgeries.