Before the Surgery Preparations

I always prefer general anesthesia for my rhinoplasty surgeries. Therefore, we take our patients to the hospital a day before the surgery to get some tests done (blood tests, lung tomography, nasal tomography etc.) After getting the results of these tests, there will be a consultation with the anesthesia doctor. During this consultation, the anesthesia doctor will decide whether you are eligible for general anesthesia and ask questions regarding your health history and medications you are taking. I recommend you asking all the questions you have regarding anesthesia during this consultation. After completing this step, you will be ready for the surgery.

Surgery Day

The surgery day is the most scared day by the patients, but probably the easiest day for them. We will take you to the hospital a few hours before the surgery and you will be taken to the surgery when all preparations are done.

The surgery length is 2-3 hours for primary surgeries. For the revision surgeries, it can take up to 3-4 hours. However, the anesthesia process is not included in these time periods.
After the surgery, you will be taken to your room and your first meal will be served three hour later.

Within the first 24 hours by applying ice compresses, we will try to reduce the bruising and swelling. Bruising and swelling are natural responses of our body to the surgery. The amount of them can vary based on the patient’s age, skin type, the surgical procedure and technique used. More or less, every patient gets them.

Discharge from the Hospital

After spending the first night under observation at the hospital and getting all the necessary treatments, we discharge our patients next morning if there are no complications

I like to discharge my patients after visiting them in their room and giving my recommendations. We will provide all the medications you will take after the surgery. These medications usually include an antibiotic, an antihistaminic and a painkiller. You should take these medications regularly.

You will have the most swelling and bruising during the first three days. Generally there is little or no pain. Sleeping while your head is in a higher position and drinking lots of water will help. You should avoid heavy duty activities and smoking.

First Check-up

The first face-to-face check-up is usually on the fifth or the sixth day after the surgery. I take out the silicone tubes and the plaster on the nose. In my opinion, using silicone tubes are necessary because I prefer not leaving inside the nose completely empty. Generally for most of my patients, I perform functional procedures like septoplasty, concaplasty, endoscopic sinus surgery inside nose.

Especially the first three days due to edema, the tissues may contact eachother, and if there is no barrier in between them, there may be a risk of them sticking together. I believe that the patients will feel more comfortable with the help of these soft silicone tubes, because especially for the first days patients’ breathing is obstructed due to edema, blood accumulation, and scabbing etc. In addition, during the process of removing the silicone tubes, there is almost no pain and most patients don’t even feel anything.

Second Check-up

We invite you back to our clinic on the 8th or 9th day after the surgery for your second check-up. We do a general check-up, remove the tapes on your nose and clean the scabbing inside your nose.
After this step, you can pretty much go back to your normal life. You are ready to go back to your country. There is no problem getting on the plane.

First Year After the Surgery

For our patients, we do check-ups for the first month, sixth month and the first year after the surgery through online calls.

The Final Result

As I mentioned before, it is quite hard to tell when the rhinoplasty surgery process ends. On most medical books it is written that it will take a year to a year and a half for your nose to get its final shape. This time period may vary for every patient and depending on the technique used.

Healing is much faster for the closed rhinoplasty technique that I use for most of my patients. Especially after the first week bruising and swelling will heal and a quick healing process begins right after and gets mostly completed generally within 4-6 months.

In addition, healing is completed faster having very little scar tissue due to protecting the anatomic structure of the nose especially the vein, nerve and lymph systems supporting the nose skeleton.

I recommend you to touch the tip of your nose to check whether it is healed completely. When the softness and flexibility of the tip of your nose get back to its normal condition and when it feels like it belongs to you, it means that it is healed completely.