I have a nose job scheduled in a few weeks. I was just wondering how I’m going to have care for my nose after surgery? What special care will I have to perform, will I need to clean it and how?

During the initial consultation for rhinoplasty, I discuss the postoperative course with my patients. As well, we provide our patients with a printed form of these instructions prior to the surgery. Also, I evaluate our patients the day after surgery to further review these instructions.

Our patients can begin showering the day after surgery. I instruct our patients to cleanse the outside part of the nostrils with a cotton tipped applicator soaked in hydrogen peroxide approximately 4 times a day to minimize crusting. Avoid placing the cotton tipped applicator too far within the nostril as this may result in bleeding. If there are stitches at the base of the nose, I ask patients to gently cleanse these stitches with a cotton tipped applicator soaked in hydrogen peroxide. Gently roll the cotton tipped applicator as vigorous rubbing may cause disruption of stitches and/or bleeding. Following cleansing, we instruct our patients to apply ointment (either Vaseline or Bacitracin antibiotic ointment) to the outside part of the nostrils and to stitches at the base of the nose.

I do not pack the nose, therefore, patients feel more comfortable after surgery. However, breathing through the nose after surgery may be limited due to swelling. In order to minimize bleeding, we instruct our patients to avoid hot spicy foods. A cool, soft diet is recommended for one week after surgery. As well, head of bed elevation minimizes bleeding and swelling. Finally, an ice pack across the top of the nose and eyes for the first 2-3 days after surgery minimizes swelling and bruising; we have found that a frozen bag of peas works very well.