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Care After Rhinoplasty Turkey

Rhinoplasty
Ask The Doctor

    After Rhinoplasty What Awaits You After Rhinoplasty

    First of all, thank you for getting your rhinoplasty done by me. Be sure that I have done my very best to honor your trust. I assume your operation has been completed and you’re resting in your hospital bed. You might assume the hardest part is done because the operation is over. In a way it is but the finished part was the most passive part regarding you. Maybe it was scarier because you were sleeping. But in reality, your story barely began. I want to talk to you about what awaits you during this journey.

    Protect your nose from traumas: Because almost all of the building structures of your nose has been rebuilt. You woke up with a protective cast on your nose. Because right now, your nose is so vulnerable it can be broken by even a baby. Because this protection is extremely important, and most of the problems after the rhinoplasty emanates from patients failing to provide this protection. Most common cause of traumas are the one that occur while sleeping. 

    Adjust your sleeping position: Sleeping position is important because of two factors. First is to reduce the edemas. If you keep your head above your heart, edemas will be reduced. But don’t forget your nose will be more swollen in the morning than in the afternoon and at night. This is normal and will happen for a few months. Another important issue is the risk of turning during sleep. Everyone who doesn’t have the habit of sleeping on their back has this risk. Your subconsciousness probably won’t let you fall asleep completely and remind you that you had an operation but you sleep with getting tired. Because of this I ask you to sleep with a collar. For a nose, a year is needed to return to pre surgery tissue conditions, so you need to be careful for one year after rhinoplasty surgery. You just need to gain a new simple habit.

    Don’t Use Sleeping Medicine: Because of the risk of turning, we don’t want a deep and uncontrollable sleep. We don’t want to disable the protection function of your subconsciousness.

    Apply Cold Compress or Ice: Surgery itself is a form of trauma. And it is a serious trauma. As with all traumas it causes swelling and edemas. If the cold compress can be applied in the first week that would help a lot.

    Use your medicine regularly: After rhinoplasty, there’s a more or less prescription and we want you to use it as instructed.

    Antibiotics: After the operation, you will have an antibiotic you need to use two times a day after the meals. Usually it’s Cefaks or Augmentin and in the cases of allergies it might be Cipro. I specifically mention their names because agent ingredients might be confusing. This is for your safety.

    Painkillers: We usually use Dex Forte which also has a strong anti inflammatory effect and you should also use this 2 times a day. In case you have ulcer or gastritis, we also give you a stomach protector.

    Sterimar Nasal Spray: This is also known as sterilized ocean water. It is used to cleanse the nostrils. After having the proper experience of maintenance for your nose, you can use a 1000 cc isotonic water and a syringe to pump the water through your nostrils. Because this application doesn’t have any side effects, we want you to apply it ten times a day. You need to apply this over a sink and let the water come out by itself without sneezing or blowing.

    Rhinopanthen or almond oil: This is a simple application that some patients like while others hate. As you can guess, there are invisible incisions and scars inside your nostrils. This oil based drop will moisturize them and prevent the stressing of the tissues. You can apply this 2 or 3 times a day by using two drops. In order to allow it to go inside, push your head back otherwise it will run down and out.

    Eye Pomades like Kemicetin and Terramycin: These pomades have two purposes: My clinical experience has shown that leaving nasal wings intact while making all parts of the nose smaller. Almost 95% of my patients get their nasal wings touched and incisions are hidden on the crevice of the wings. Applying pomade to these incisions three times a day provides both maintenance and protection against infections. Another appliance area is the incisions on the septum base. You should apply it rice sized to the stitches you can see. This prevents abscesses on the stitched areas.

    Contractubex:  Although it is highly allergic, we use it on the incisions on the nasal wings to achieve better scar healing and less scar marks. Don’t forget that you need to start using this 2 weeks after the operation. Ideal usage is 4 times a day. It should be applied by massaging for a minute on the incisions. Pressure of the massaging should be minimal in the first month. Don’t forget that it won’t have any effect if you just put it over the incisions. In total you will use it for 6 months.

    Prednol: Although it is not used on the most of the patients, if the swelling is more than usual, and if we want the patient to get rid of edemas as soon as possible, we can recommend it with a special application regime. This usually lasts 3 day, and in these 3 days, on the first day I will be used 3 times, 2 times on the second day, and once before sleeping on the last day.

    It is normal to get a bad smell because of the scars inside the nose. But because some patients have a high sense of smell, they usually request a solution to this. You can use a simple application after 3 week from the operation. You can apply carbonated water and isotonic water by combining them on a 1 to 1 ratio. But of course sneezing and snotting is forbidden until 3 months after the surgery. After 3 months, of course you can’t like before but you can start minimally.

    Swimming in the Sea or Pool is forbidden in the first month after rhinopasty surgery.

    For eyeglass use, minimal time is 3 month, and they should be lightweight.

    Deciding factor for exercise is trauma and bleeding risk in the first month. If you blood pressure rises your nose bleeds very easily in the first month. This of course is not a bad sign but nevertheless it might upset you. For this you can start cardio between the first and third months, and afterwards can start heavy exercise on the condition you start slowly and increase over time. Of course on the condition you will prevent traumas.

    Smoking-Drinking: Smoking is the worst thing that prevents tissue renewal. Also it can cause the scar marks to look worse. It prevents the nourishment of the cartilage we’ve reshaped. Alcohol also affects scar metabolism negatively and causes overswelling of the nose. It’s better to quit them. When? As soon as possible.

    Don’t keep secrets from your doctor: In the cases of removal of the cast by mistake, forgetting or misusing the medicine, and most importantly traumas, inform your surgeon immediately. This way, with small measurements, problems can be fixed before they can become bigger. Some patients tend to hide these small mistakes. There are two details that shouldn’t be ignored here. First is you’re also responsible for the maintenance of your nose after the surgery. Second is, you’re on the same team with your surgeon. Both of us want the same satisfying results.

    Don’t forget a living tissue has been operated: In rhinoplasty, we reshape bone and cartilage by cutting, and create new covers for them by stitching the soft tissues. Although it is a surgical one, this means trauma for all these tissues. Our body thinks it’s injured and tries to fix itself as fast as possible. This healing effort of the body might cause unwanted results sometimes. Although these are rare, if there are any cases of these, we can fix them with massages, injections, or minor surgical interventions most of the time. This type of intervention might be bumming but doesn’t always mean a fault in the first surgery.

    To read a more comprehensive article about rhinoplasty, please visit: https://www.ozanbalik.com/en/rhinoplasty-turkey/