Aftercare is a very important step in any patient’s surgical journey, because your healing time is very important to your end results, safety, and comfort. The correct nose job aftercare helps to minimise the risk of infection post-surgery and also allows your operated area to heal in its own time. Here’s our brief guide to nose job aftercare in London.

Immediately post-surgery

After your rhinoplasty surgery you will receive a small cast or splint for your nose, or sometimes just a light tape dressing on the outside if your surgery permits it. Where possible, we will avoid putting uncomfortable dressings inside your nose. Depending on your needs you may go home the same or stay in hospital overnight to monitor your condition. You’ll be invited back to the clinic after a week, where we will remove the external splint. We prefer to use dissolvable stitches on the outside of the nose as these do not need to be removed and will disappear after a couple of weeks by themselves.

How you’ll feel 1-2 weeks post-surgery

You’ll feel as though you’ve got a heavy cold during this recovery period. You will most likely encounter some swelling, bruising, and perhaps visible stitches. These initial weeks might be uncomfortable, but pain is rare, so if you are experiencing any pain, we’d advice getting in touch with your surgeon for clarification. It’s important to note that you are still healing, so bruises and swelling is normal and not your end result.

How you’ll feel 8-12 weeks post-surgery

After checking in with you after the first week, we will then invite you back around the 8-12 weeks mark post-surgery for another check. We’ll take note of how your nose has healed, whether there are any aftercare concerns to address, and how you are adapting to your new appearance. Numbness in the tip of our nose for several weeks or months is also common after nose job surgery.

How you’ll feel 12-18 weeks post-surgery

Some swelling, particularly over the tip of your nose, can take 12-18 months to completely subside and heal, so it’s important to bear this in mind if you’re still seeing some localised swelling. We like to stay in close contact with our nose job patients, so we also schedule check-ups around the 12-18 months mark as well.

These are just guideline timelines, as everyone’s recovery period will be unique to them. You will no doubt be seen by your surgeon in the interim of these check-ups too, as we like to keep in regular contact with our patients. If you feel you’d like to be seen before, after, or between these post-nose job marks, then you’re of course encouraged to get in touch.

The generals of nose job aftercare

Generally speaking, we recommend…

• Taking one to two weeks off work to allow for stress-free healing
• Avoiding the gym and flying for at least 14 days, possibly longer depending on your healing process
• Avoiding contact sports for six weeks, until your nose has healed, or until it has regained its normal strength
• Taking a break from wearing glasses for 6 weeks after your nose job surgery

Every recovery journey is unique, so to find out your suitability for a nose job in London get in touch with Julian Rowe-Jones at The Nose Clinic on 020 7118 3553.