Getting a nose job can be an angst ridden decision. Apart from the cost and logistics, figuring out if one can stand the pain is the hardest question because it is so multifaceted. Is it going to be too painful? How much swelling will my face be subject too? How long will the swelling last?
Most of the discomfort typically disappears after the first week. For those of you who want a play-by-play of the healing process, LA based music executive, Kristin, 30, spells it out in perfect detail. Have a scroll through her video diary, for a detailed look at what her rhinoplasty was like.
Day 1
I had my procedure done this afternoon. I’m about five hours post-op. I feel pretty great. I really am in no pain at all. The only pain I experienced was in my throat from the tube they stuck down my throat. The swelling obviously you can see, under my eyes are pretty black and blue. I do have blood coming out from where they did the packing. He broke my nose, fixed the deviated septum, shaved down a bump, lifted my nostrils and refined the tip. So it was a pretty extensive surgery.
I am on percocet, so I am sure that’s helping with any pain that I would have and I only am wearing a bandage underneath and have the two packings on each side of my nostrils which are going to be taken out tomorrow. So, all in all I would say it was a pretty easy surgery. A lot less painful and a lot easier than I have heard and that I imagined.
Day 2
So my nose and face is swelling and I feel like I can’t breathe very well. There’s a lot of pressure, but minimal pain. My nose is still bleeding but much less than it was yesterday. I have a no headaches and no nausea. Today I brushed my teeth and have been walking around a bit. I’ve even been able to eat some solid food.
Sleeping on the other hand was not so great. I decided to sleep on the couch so the sidewall of the couch would protect me from rolling over on my side. I woke up every 5 to 10 minutes needing water as I had an extremely dry mouth and chapped lips. I also slept with four pillows to prop me up. I ended up taking a painkiller in the middle of the night to finally give myself some rest. After that I slept for about two hours.
I am still doing good and feeling good for the most part even though I feel like my face is huge and unattractive. Both of my doctors called to check on me today as well which was nice. I get my packing out today at 4pm. I can’t wait because I think that’s been the worst part as it makes me want to sniffle or blow my nose and I can’t.
Day 3
Today is day 3, I had heard day 2 and 3 are the worst and I have to say I agree with that so far. I am completely swollen everywhere. My eyes are sunk in and very swollen as are the areas around my cheeks, forehead and lip area. Basically my whole face is swollen and I feel like I look like a chipmunk.
I have been icing a lot and I think that helped with the bruising a bit as that has gone down, but the swelling remains.
I got my packing out yesterday so that relieved a lot of the discomfort and I have very minimal, if any bleeding now. I am still wearing gauze underneath my nose just in case to catch any blood and I also just feel safer with it on. The first day I was changing the gauze every 20 minutes and now it’s only every few hours.
The doctor told me to be cleaning the inside of my nostrils with Neosporin with a q-tip and spray AYR in my nose every hour which is pretty uncomfortable because of the stitches inside my nose but it’s bearable.
I took a Xanax last night and slept well throughout the entire night with pillows propped up all around me so my head was elevated. As for pain, the process isn’t a painful one, just rather annoying. I still have very minimal pain, just a lot of pressure. I am on painkillers (taking maybe two a day) which relieves the pressure as well.
Day 4
I’m feeling really good today. I woke up with a bit of pressure and a dry mouth (as to be expected) but as soon as I got up and did my morning routine (brush teeth, washed—well, wiped face), I felt so much better.
My swelling has gone down significantly in just one day, which is great! My bruising is quite yellow now and starting to fade out under my eyes, which I am really happy about.
My eyelids are another story, they are REALLY black and blue and I even have this cute winged purple eyeliner looking bruise still—kidding it’s not so cute. Can’t wait for that to go away. I have also been using Arnica cream as of today to help with the bruising. My doctor didn’t recommend it or not recommend it but hey I figured I would give it a try. I have not bled at all from my nose today and I can actually breathe from my nose now.
As you know, I’ve been using a saline nasal spray Ayr, recommended by my doctor once every two hours to keep the nostrils moist. I thought it would hurt to spray stuff in there but it doesn’t at all.
All in all nothing out of the ordinary today, I have been relaxing. I was able to shower, blow dry my hair, do my laundry etc. So today has been my best day thus far. I am even planning on going to a low key dinner later on; wearing a hat of course and maybe some cover-up. I don’t want to scare anyone with these bruises 🙂
Day 5
I’m feeling really good today. I had minimal pain. I was out all day; I went to lunch, I did some shopping, ran errands. Today was a good day. I didn’t have to take any pain pills and I didn’t have to take anything to go to sleep last night and I slept pretty much through the night. I woke up once or twice so that was good.
Other than that, my swelling is definitely going down along with the bruising. Its really just yellow underneath my eyes and my eyelids are still a little black and blue. My nose is not going down. It’s still really big, the tip’s really big, not seeing much progress with it being smaller, it seems bigger now. That’s a bit of a bummer but that’s to be expected. Other than that, nothing different to report. Today was just a normal good day. Tomorrow will be day six and then I get my splint off. The only thing I will say is that it gets itchy under the cast. I keep trying to itch and that can be really annoying.
Day 6
Nothing really to new to report today. I look the same really. My face is still a bit swollen but the swelling has gone down a lot considering what was done to it. The bruising has gone down quite a bit as well but its still pretty yellow under my eyes. I went out for brunch today and covered all the bruising up with makeup and you could barely tell. I have been sleeping pretty well and only took a half of a pain pill in the morning today.
Last night when I was sleeping my splint came off from moving around. My doctor said it happens and I should just use some double sided tape to stick it back on, so that’s what I did.
Can’t wait to see the final results on Tuesday when they remove the splint for good!
Day 7
My bruising and swelling has gone down a ton within the past two days. As I explained, I started using Arnica three days ago, so that could have contributed to the bruising going down as well. I am experiencing no pain and have not needed to take any pain medication. I have been sleeping through the night just fine and am not sleeping sitting straight up anymore.
I get my splint off tomorrow so I am excited for that and to see the results a bit better. My face is starting to look like the old me again and I can’t wait to see the final results in the coming months.
For me this past week has not been as bad as I thought and if I was asked to do it over again I absolutely would. Yes, with rhinoplasty there is discomfort the first couple of days, and I would say day three was the worst day, but the pain is definitely manageable and for me it was totally worth it.
Day 8
I got my splint off, the tape off and they took the stitches out. Just so you guys know, that was so painful. Definitely take a painkiller before you go and have them put numbing cream on. I had to wait for the painkillers and the numbing cream to kick in because I was freaking out that much. But I just wanted to show you the new nose.
Looks awesome!
Looking great!