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A generous guest has contributed his photos to show how long swelling lasts after rhinoplasty. The photos were taken at 7 months post-op and 36 months post-op.

The guest will tell you the following details regarding his rhinoplasty surgery below. Thank you.

jcaliboy

Hey there. I am a male in my mid twenties and got rhinoplasty about 3 years ago. I am happy now with my final results, BUT no doctor seems to honestly say how long it truly takes to heal and have your final nose take shape. They grossly underestimate this! As you can see in my 7 month after pic, my nose is still way swollen as compared to what it looks like now! I had basically been told that by 7 months, it would be pretty much how it is going to be. Not the case!!! It took a bit over a year and 2 years before it seemed done shrinking.

I originally went in because the bridge of my nose was convex and the tip was a bit droopy. Because of this, my doctor, Dr. Andrew Frankel of the Lasky Clinic in Beverly Hills, did a couple of things in my closed rhino surgery: He shaved my "bump" off, bumping out the bridge a bit wider; for the tip, he cut some cartilage from the bottom of my septum so that my nose could kinda float up "naturally"... he also cut fat out of the bottom of my nose. The procedure was virtually painless with just some discomfort the week after because of the splint. Dr. Frankel is an awesome doctor with a great tempermant and really listens to what you have to say which is key!!! He also is on the conservative, not into these fakey looks, wanting guys to stay masculine.

So... cut to 7 months after my surgery and I was quite unhappy with the results. The bridge was good but the tip looked like a blob on my face. I had NO clue it was swelling because I thought it had been long enough that residual swelling was basically gone. I was even thinking about going in AGAIN and having the tip refined!!! Well glad I did NOT do that!!! A little over a year after surgery, my nose really had taken shape, basically looking like the couple year after photo (notice the drastic change from 7 months after to present). My nose did become very streamlined (the desired parallel lines that go down a straight nose) and the tip actually lifted; all the swelling was adding volume to the tip in every direction, including down. Also, the swelling was covering up the tip dome, but when that went down, you could see that fat had been excised... now my nose actually had a tip unsheathed from fat or swelling.

Of course, everyone heals differently so it is not totally predictable. If you are more prone to getting scar tissue, that can prolong swelling and even I feel always rear its ugly head in... i think noses with scar tissue swell more than the pre-rhino nose. I have bad allergies which definitely can clog your nose and make it drain slower as well as irritate it. I noticed when i used a saline nasal rinse, my nose seemed to drain. I still do this to keep my nose more slim, even though it would never look like what it did before. My sister who got a nose job took a long time to totally heal as well. Her nose one year later is so different from 3 years later.... it definitely shrank and became way more defined. She does not have allergies. Long story short, doctors all grossly underestimate the time it takes for a nose to fully heal. Luckily I had a good surgeon that did his job while I was under so that the structure was all there just waiting to reach the surface.

Thanks. -J

versace

This is excellent to have before and after rhinoplasty photos such as these to actually document the true swelling. No plastic surgeon would put those on their site and tell the truth that it is possible for the swelling to last 24 to 36 months. I cannot stress enough how important it is to make current and potential patients undergoing rhinoplasty to know this. Not necessarily because it is such a bad thing, but so they can know what to expect after surgery. Too often cosmetic surgeons downplay this and afterwards it leaves many patients scratching their heads as to why their nose looks that way following the procedure. To be honest I think there should be guidelines set in place requiring doctors to be clear about this. Thank you for posting these pictures and helping inform others.

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prettything

Wow! The tip looks like a different nose almost! I don't think your nose surgery looked that bad after 7 months, but regardless I can tell that the swelling was still there. How catastrophic that would have been to go back in and get it narrowed!! You would have like no nose left!!! I wonder if he would have done that. Did you actually ask him or just think it in your head?

momo

Pretty shocking! Are you sure this is normal????? Hard to believe most people would have that much swelling after 7 months! Although in the 7 month picture, if I would have met you, I wouldn't know it was swollen so I can see why you thought it was complete. Did it seem stiff or clogged at all?? Were there any signs looking back at it?

jcaliboy

First off, no I never went back to my doctor and said I wanted it narrowed after 7 months so I don't know what he would have said. That was just in my thoughts and what I shared with certain people.

To me there didn't seem to be any signs or clues that would have tipped me off that it was still swollen after 7 months. My nose was as flexible and bendable as it is now, but some noses are not. In short, I couldn't tell at all until I looked back. Luckily it did shrink or I would have gotten another surgery.

fillherup

I'm happy that it turned out as good as it is now because I would have been freaking out too if my nose was that bulby after surgery and I thought it would stay that way. I never knew either that it took that long to heal. You often see celebrities after they get it done before 7 months and it never looks that swollen. Maybe they inject their noses with cortisone?????

hormoneTrixter

I am curious how when celebrities get nose jobs it seems their swelling goes down really quick and within months they are back in the spot light sporting new slimmed down noses like ashlee simpson. Does anyone know if they inject cortisone in the nose to stop the inflammation? Looking at your 7 month after picture compared to what it should look like in the years affter pic, do you think that a cortisone shot would have shrunk it immediately? i can't imagine a celebrity waiting THAT long for it to slim down.

oldmommy

wow if swelling from rhinoplasty takes this long and is this extreme, how do even surgeons know what the nose is gonna look like? does the swelling take time (like a couple of hours) so while they are sculpting they can see it? i don't know if i could wait this long to tell what it looks like but maybe depending what you do maybe it doesn't take as long.

Lashni

I had a rhinoplasty to reduce my nose tip... so my doctor removed cartilage & fat under the nasal tip and the surgery dint last for more than 1hr... I had the surgery 3 months ago.. I can see that the tip of my nose has reduced in length but the nose tip is still bulbous. its fatter than before. its swollen badly. I did see the swelling go down in the last month but this month it is jus bad. its so huuuge. I can feel the cartilage swollen inside my nose. Not sure if the swelling will ever go down but after reading the open post here, my hopes are perked up. I wish it goes down atleast a bit.. I dont feel like makin a public appearance with the swelling Also I wanted to know if the fat removed from the tip of my nose will grow bac in excess and get deposited?? kind of like it taking revenge on me for removing from its place?? PLS HELP