Moderate exercise like walking can help blood flow and circulate oxygen to help lessen swelling, but avoid any strenuous activity as you heal. Keep your body hydrated by drinking lots of water the week before your surgery, and continue hydration post-operation.
Walking after rhinoplasty is great for a few reasons. It helps you avoid boredom, for one thing. It can also help keep you regular and can help reduce muscle soreness or weakness, which can result if you sit still for too long. Walking also gets your blood flowing, which helps reduce swelling.
You can take long walks approximately 1 week after rhinoplasty. By the second week, you can begin doing light treadmill and/or stationary bike exercises, but avoid exercises that include lifting of heavy weights. You can begin lifting light weights by the 3rd week.
Typically, the swelling will peak the second or third day after your surgery. Generally, it will be worse when you first arise in the morning—proof that it's better to remain elevated as much as possible.
Nose Tip Swelling After Rhinoplasty
The nose tip swells more than other face parts after a nose job. This is because the nasal tip is located on a cartilaginous tissue and consists of soft tissue and thick skin; therefore, its skin conforms to the new contour slower and causes swelling.
Another important step in minimizing rhinoplasty swelling is drinking plenty of water. By staying hydrated, you can flush toxins out of your body, helping the swelling to dissipate more quickly.
Your initial recovery phase after this procedure will usually be about seven to 10 days, although your total recovery time could be as long as two to three months.
The first week is the most critical period for rhinoplasty healing. After 7-10 days, patients can begin to use other sleeping positions. Be careful to avoid putting pressure on the nose, and if you can sleep comfortably on your back while elevated, continue to do so.
Avoid hot showers and baths until your cast is removed – steam can make swelling worse and could even cause your cast to fall off. Avoid taking blood thinning medication – this can impair healing and cause complications.
Postoperative swelling after a Rhinoplasty can take up to one year. The reason being is that after any trauma (including surgery), our body needs to undergo essential phases for healing and repair. Swelling lasts even longer in most Revision Rhinoplasty cases, and sometimes, injections of steroids can help.
3 to 6 Months: Numbness and abnormal skin sensations around your nose should be completely gone by this point. One year: By this point, the healing process should be complete, give or take a few weeks or months. You shouldn't experience any swelling, bruising, discomfort, redness, or pain at this point.
Strenuous exercise also increases your blood flow, which can cause additional swelling. Thus, it is advisable to refrain from any physical activities for a minimum of 4 weeks as your body heals.
Bending over is not recommended for at least three weeks, as this can increase swelling and aching. Avoid exercise for the allotted timeline of four to six weeks, and avoid activities that will be likely to injure or damage your nose.
Avoid any forms of physically strenuous activities after the Rhinoplasty. It includes going to the gym, performing rigorous workouts, aerobic exercises, high-intensity exercises, lifting heavy weights, intense physical movements, and just any form of physical activity that exerts pressure on your body.
Recovery typically progresses quickly. You'll feel the worst in the days right after surgery, but should improve every day. If you stay on top of your pain medication and get plenty of rest, rhinoplasty recovery doesn't have to be, and shouldn't be, a painful experience.
An open rhinoplasty requires more time to heal. Swelling can persist for a year, and sometimes longer. This is especially true of the tip of the nose. Fortunately, most swelling will subside within two months, and you should be ready to present your new facial profile to the world in about two weeks.
While you may be anxious to return to your preferred sleeping position, it is critical that you continue sleeping on your back with your head elevated for about 7 – 10 days after rhinoplasty, or until cleared by Dr. Khorsandi.
Sleeping on your side or stomach is not recommended for several weeks after the procedure because it places unnecessary pressure on your nose. Resting on your back in an elevated position cuts down on congestion and minimizes swelling after rhinoplasty surgery.
You'll need to sleep in an elevated position for at least one week, however, it's generally recommended that you wait around 10-14 days before returning to your regular sleeping positions.
Bland foods with balanced protein and carbohydrates that are like a Mediterranean diet are felt to be helpful to reduce inflammation. The key is to stay hydrated with water and avoid excessive caffeine and alcohol consumption.
As we mentioned, the tip of the nose may drop slightly even if the rhinoplasty procedure doing with the proper technique. However, if your nose tip has fallen exaggeratedly and has caused an unnatural appearance, there is a high probability that a wrong surgical procedure has been performed.