i just had SEPTORHINOPLASTY 2 days ago, its not too painful. my packing came out the same day i had the op and i got sent home with this thing on my face holding the structure i belive
its really not that painfull, the worst part was having the paks taken out that really hurt my nose was really really badly broken, it was meant to be a simple fix, but the doctor said there was complications because thebone was really damaged :(
so 2 days later im sittin at home feeling hot and bothered and just want to get up and go out, but my nose keeps dribbling with blood, shouldnt really go near dusty or smoky places
the only thing i suggest is; sip water gently, breath through your mouth!, try not to laugh or smile because that hurts! when you have your paks taken out close your eyes and clench ur thumb with ur fingers into your palm, SNEEZING!!! i found closing my eyes clicking my tounge up and down in my mouth like im calling a cat, and tappin my foot and clenchin my hand helped me to not sneeze.!
hope i helped :) :!:
its really not that painfull, the worst part was having the paks taken out that really hurt my nose was really really badly broken, it was meant to be a simple fix, but the doctor said there was complications because thebone was really damaged :(
so 2 days later im sittin at home feeling hot and bothered and just want to get up and go out, but my nose keeps dribbling with blood, shouldnt really go near dusty or smoky places
the only thing i suggest is; sip water gently, breath through your mouth!, try not to laugh or smile because that hurts! when you have your paks taken out close your eyes and clench ur thumb with ur fingers into your palm, SNEEZING!!! i found closing my eyes clicking my tounge up and down in my mouth like im calling a cat, and tappin my foot and clenchin my hand helped me to not sneeze.!
hope i helped :) :!:
I had my Septoplasty/turbinate reduction one week ago. I think my surgeon intentionally did not share all the post op experiences that I was about to encounter. Good thing or I might have chickened out. I did watch a video on YouTube prior to the surgery and did have some anxiety about it all. The facility was excellent, the pre-op staff was very caring. I went right out and did not feel or remember a thing. Post op care was nothing to brag about. Seemed like they were trying to rush me out. I was experiencing some nausea and they gave me a plastic bag for the ride home. Gee thanks! When I woke up the pain was substantial but they quickly gave me some meds for that. Once home I stayed ahead of my pain with my meds the first few days. Had more bleeding that I was told about but after reading more on the net it was not out of the norm. Stopped wearing the drip pad the next day. I've been doing sinus rinses 4-8 times a day. A few times I had to do 2-3 back to back to get some of the clots and other crud out. 15 minutes later I would use my steroid nasal spray and then the nasal cream prescribed to keep my nostrils moist. When ever I felt dry and crusty between nasal rinses I used saline spray. I too expected a faster recovery. 4 days after surgery I had two job interviews and had to really push to get through those. When done I came right home took my pain meds and got rest. 5 days after surgery I wanted to tidy up around the house and run some errands and had to again push myself to get through and back home to take pain meds and rest. I go back in two more days to the doctor for my first post-op follow up. Guess I will be getting stitches removed (wasn't told I would have those...but they are in there). Don't know if I have splints or not but it sure feels like it. Face feels taught and sensitive to pressure. Front top teeth are a bit sensitive. I have been breathing better since the surgery than I have in years. Looking forward to better sleep and not waking up with a headache every day of my life and also to not having recurring sinus infections and feeling crappy all the time. So far I'd have to say this was all worth it.
Hi all, I had my septoplasy done about 36 hours ago and have to say I'm not feeling bad at all. I can breathe through both sides of my nose fairly well and at times better than ever before. I don't seem to have much swelling or pain and have not needed to take the paracetamol I was prescribed. I don't think any splints were put in, or packing, just some dissolveable stitches. This is the UK and I have no follow-up care unless I start bleeding heavily or get an infection (in which case it's off to the emergency hospital!) I was given some saline solution and a decongestant/anti-swelling spray to use several times a day.
I'm groggy from the general anasthetic and my nose is tender and delicate. I have a bit of bloody fluid leaking from time to time just on one side, but overall feel a lot better than expected given the experiences others here have written about. Fingers crossed it will not start swelling up now I've written this lol!
I'm groggy from the general anasthetic and my nose is tender and delicate. I have a bit of bloody fluid leaking from time to time just on one side, but overall feel a lot better than expected given the experiences others here have written about. Fingers crossed it will not start swelling up now I've written this lol!
I just had septoplasty and turbinate reduction surgery on 7/7 and today is 7/12. The recovery time was a lot shorter and not as painful as I had anticipated at all!!! I had the surgery early morning on Wed, and went home around noon, and laid around and slept most of the day, with assistance from the the painkillers prescribed. The pain was completely tolerable, but just annoying. My one recommendation would be to have a bottle of Children's Chloraseptic (no alcohol or asprin) onhand for the sore throat that you will have from breathing out of your mouth. I had packing placed in my nose, so I really could not breath out of it at all during the day of surgery, which makes everything from breathing to swallowing difficult. The most bleeding that I had was on the first day, and was mostly when I was moving around.
The next morning I went to the Dr. to get my packing removed. I took one pain pill an hour before this appointment, and that was the last prescribed pain pill that I've had to take. This was a quick process and was not painful, just awkward feeling. He pulled the packing out, suctioned out some extra blood and snot and right away I could breath, out of both nostrils!!! I slept a little bit that morning after the appointment (most likely from the pain meds), and then was fine from then on! I have had to take over the counter tylenol for some pain and discomfort that I've been feeling in the roof of my mouth, but thats about it, it's not that bad at all! The only bad part of recovery from this surgery is not being able to blow your nose, and I've also got dissolvable stitches that I can feel in my nose still, and really want to just pick at!?! Although I'm still a little stuffy, can't blow my nose and have stitches in my one nostril, I can already breath a LOT better! This was definitely worth it so far, I imagine the results will hopefully only get better (I hope)!
The next morning I went to the Dr. to get my packing removed. I took one pain pill an hour before this appointment, and that was the last prescribed pain pill that I've had to take. This was a quick process and was not painful, just awkward feeling. He pulled the packing out, suctioned out some extra blood and snot and right away I could breath, out of both nostrils!!! I slept a little bit that morning after the appointment (most likely from the pain meds), and then was fine from then on! I have had to take over the counter tylenol for some pain and discomfort that I've been feeling in the roof of my mouth, but thats about it, it's not that bad at all! The only bad part of recovery from this surgery is not being able to blow your nose, and I've also got dissolvable stitches that I can feel in my nose still, and really want to just pick at!?! Although I'm still a little stuffy, can't blow my nose and have stitches in my one nostril, I can already breath a LOT better! This was definitely worth it so far, I imagine the results will hopefully only get better (I hope)!
I had my septoplasty and turbinate reduction surgery on 7/8. The surgery itself was not painful at all. I still experienced a lot of stuffiness and uncomfortable head fog for a few days afterwards. At this point, I'm still a little stuffy from time to time. One minute I can breathe fine another one side may become stuffy. My nose is still a little tender from the cutting of the cartilage of straighting my nasal passage. I can't wait to feel the true outcome once the healing is complete 100 percent. I would recommend this surgery to anyone. It was well worth it.
I actually went for my septoplasty surgery abroad, to Prague. One of my friends had the same surgery and passed me a contact. My local GP told me it would cost me around €4000, not to mention waiting time for the surgery. The surgery itself was painless with full anaesthesia. It took aprx. 1 hour. Next two days were one of the worse ones in my whole life. Nose was swollen, its size tripled, I could only breathe through mouth, the pressure in my head was very often unbearable. Be prepared you won't sleep much the first two nights. They pulled all tissue from my nose on the third day. It took some time before I stopped bleeding but what a relief! They sent me home the very same day. As I came to Prague alone I had to rely on the guys from the company I contacted. But they took very good care of me. You really need it on that day. I was not far from fainting. My nose remained stuffed for another 3-4 days. I was told to use nasal sprays in order to clear the nose passage faster. Once home I got better rapidly. I felt ok after 4 days from the surgery and in a good shape after 1 week. I had to stay another 3 weeks before I was given ok to fly home. 4 weeks in total but only the first week was difficult. The company I went with is called Praga Medica Ltd. They took great care of me and deserve a bit of promotion. If you think about going abroad and you want to save a few grand, get in touch with them. ***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed. Good luck. David
searched for "nose surgery how long swelling" on Google and found this great site.
Only found one tip on how to reduce swelling while reading your comments:
By Guest Posted: 12/31/06 5:52 PM :
"In case you're still looking for simple ways to relieve that crappy congested feeling, taking warm showers was money. It opened up my sinuses a bit, and allowed some of the harder musous buildup to soften (yum). "
had my septoplasty done for a deviated septum 26 August 2010.
Recovery: No sleep. I cannot sleep because of the blocked nose. Breathing through the mouth makes it dry (literally no moisture after 10 minutes), which makes me wake up. I am using a saline solution for my nose every other hour, but it helps very little, if at all.
Reading your comments I should expect this to continue for a week.
Hoping breathing will become easy: users on a couple of other sites wrote septoplasty did not help their breathing at all. One guy had to remove a tooth in order to breath well. I have one more tooth on the left side which pushes all the teeth up against the wall of my nose. Wonder if that could be a reason for not breathing well.
Thanks for the comments!
Only found one tip on how to reduce swelling while reading your comments:
By Guest Posted: 12/31/06 5:52 PM :
"In case you're still looking for simple ways to relieve that crappy congested feeling, taking warm showers was money. It opened up my sinuses a bit, and allowed some of the harder musous buildup to soften (yum). "
had my septoplasty done for a deviated septum 26 August 2010.
Recovery: No sleep. I cannot sleep because of the blocked nose. Breathing through the mouth makes it dry (literally no moisture after 10 minutes), which makes me wake up. I am using a saline solution for my nose every other hour, but it helps very little, if at all.
Reading your comments I should expect this to continue for a week.
Hoping breathing will become easy: users on a couple of other sites wrote septoplasty did not help their breathing at all. One guy had to remove a tooth in order to breath well. I have one more tooth on the left side which pushes all the teeth up against the wall of my nose. Wonder if that could be a reason for not breathing well.
Thanks for the comments!
I had septoplasty and turbinate reduction on Wed 9/1/10 and have gotten along great so far. Today I have a pretty bad headache, but I have not experienced any other pain. Does anyone have any suggestions for helping the headache? I know it is probably from the packing, but I have 6 more days before it is removed.
I had septoplasty on Tues 9/14/10.. I felt horrible when I got home due to breathing out my mouth. My throat was very sore. I didn't get any sleep and ate very little, I drank lots of water all night so needless to say I was going to the bathroom every hour. The next day I got my packing out.. and wow did it hurt. I felt like the doctor was pulling my brain out through my nose. He wasn't gentle by any means. After the packing was out, there was a little blood and before I could catch it, it had ran down my face onto my shirt... then the doctor took this wand thing out and sucked stuff out of my nose that hurt so bad I though I was going to faint!!!! I had some swelling on the left side of my face below my eye. I still have stints in and will get them out in 7 days. I haven't felt to bad today but I keep forgetting not to bend over so my nose continues to bleed. I have lots of drainage.. mostly blood clots is what I keep spitting out... its pretty gross but I figure i'm one clot closer to freedom...
I just had my septoplasty 4 days ago. I had complications with the surgery, i had the op done and was feeling fine, until i stopped being able to talk or swallow to clear normal saliva in my mouth, i became unable to talk as bleeding increased from my mouth and nose. I was crying about the pain in my ears, the pressure i felt was bad. My ear then started to pour with blood (and clots) and turned out my ear drum just perforated and was a traumatic experience. There is a tube which links you nose to your ears, and after surgery they fill up with fluid and blood, which is why the headaches we all seem to have could be explained as pressure headaches?! Fortunatly for everyone else, bleeding and ear drum perforations are extremly rare and my consultant was stunned to see these events unfold! I still cant breathe through my nose, but im soo loking forward to it. Im quite suprised at how sudden and painful the headaches are. Im looking forward to seeing the result minus the bleeding, headaches, blured vision and hearing distortion!
Good luck to everyone else in a similar position, for those of you who are nervous, just think its still worth it, regardless of the undesirable effects!
Good luck to everyone else in a similar position, for those of you who are nervous, just think its still worth it, regardless of the undesirable effects!
There seem to be very few posts here from people more than 3-4 days after surgery so I am contributing to give some of you something to look forward to. I am a 43 year old male who had surgery to correct problems from a severely broken nose as a child (broken in two places at age 7) that was largely blocked on one side and somewhat blocked on the other ever since.
I am now 13 days post surgery after having septoplasty, rhinoplasty, and also having a turbinate slightly trimmed (on one side only). My nose was also rebroken as part of my procedure which added to the trauma from the normal surgery a bit. It DOES get better, improvement and recovery was just slower than I expected.
I found the pain immediately post surgery to be moderate and actually slightly better than what I had expected. The worst discomfort I had was actually my throat being badly scraped up by the breathing tube insertion and then added irritation from all the post surgery drainage. For me, vicodin and ice was largely adequate to make things bearable. Pain did last for longer than I expected, however, and I didn't completely stop using vicodin at night to sleep until yesterday (Day 12). I quit taking it during the day at about day 6 or 7. Bleeding was extremely heavy for the first 3-4 days. During the first couple days I was changing the gauze about every 2-3 hours due to it being completely saturated with blood. I was not able to remove the gauze from beneath my nose until about day 6 when the bloody drainage finally stopped completely. I slept sitting upright in a recliner for the first five days or so. Sleeping lying down was not possible at all for me. Keeping your head elevated at night like this helped me a lot. Laying down was just extremely uncomfortable and also made the bleeding heavier. I got fatigued VERY easily during the first 10 days or so. A 10 year old could have beat me up. Don't plan on going back to work in three days or something equally insane.
Swelling was quite severe and I was not able to draw any air at all through my nose until about day 5. At that time, I could only draw a slight trickle of air through one side every once in a while and breathing through my nose was certainly out of the question. As my nose was also rebroken, I also had dual black eyes that started to slowly fade away from day 5 through today when they are finally gone.
I did not start flushing my nose and sinuses with warm saline solution until about day 5. I would not recommend doing this until your bleeding stops or slows to almost nothing but listen to your Dr. on that. I was given a plastic bottle with a hooked spout which essentially functioned just like a netti pot using a salt/saline solution to squirt up your nose. It's unpleasant at first but definitely pays dividends to do on the schedule your doctor gives you. You will flush out all kinds of dried blood, scabs, crusted mucous, and other unidentifiable crud, by doing this. It speeds up the healing process and will eventually actually feel good to do once you already have the bulk of all this crud flushed out. During days 5-9 or so, I would always be able to breath a little but after flushing my nose and sinuses like this, however, everything would then swell shut again after 5-10 minutes. Later, my airways started to stay open after flushing with saline. Especially, if I did it just before bed and then immediately followed the flushing with a squirt of Afrin or some other decongestant. Doing this each night made sleeping much easier from about day 9 or so on.
Since day 9 or so, I have noticed my swelling going down about 5% a day or so with my ability to breath through my nose increasing at about the same rate. Today is probably the first day I could walk a block or two with my mouth closed and get enough air through my nose to be comfortable. I expect this to continue to improve as my nose is still swollen (the tip is still numb to the touch and feels bulbous even though it looks normal in appearance). Right now I would say I am now breathing through my nose only a tiny bit better than I was pre-surgery, however, if this continues to improve at 5% a day for another 4-5 days I will be as happy as a clam that I did this. I can already tell that the airway path is dramatically straighter than it was before the surgery so I expect things will only get better as the internal swelling continues to go down. From what I've read, maximum benefits aren't normally reached until 1-2 months after surgery, so being where I am at 13 days, I am extremely optimistic about how I will feel at one month.
My pain at day 13 is almost completely gone and I managed to go the gym for a light workout this morning for the first time. There is a faint ache from my nose as if I bruised it a day or two ago and it is also faintly sore to the touch. From what I've read the numbness to the tip of the nose can often last up to one month and is an effect of the nerves further up in the nose being traumatized from the surgery. You can also experience temporary tooth sensitivity or numbness for the same reason.
So to summarize: Pain was a little less intense than I expected but also lasted much longer than I expected. Bleeding was much heavier than I expected and lasted till day 5 for me. This was the same day stitches and the splint were removed. I was unable to sleep except sitting up for nearly a week and couldn't breath adequately through my nose until about day 12 (still improving daily at about 5% a day). I was able to go back to work 7 days after my surgery but got very tired very fast the first couple days back. Flushing with saline from days 5-13 (now) before bed followed with a squirt of nasal decongestant helped with sleeping a lot. Don't plan on going back to work for at least a week and plan on tiring out very easily for at least the first two weeks. So far I don't regret doing this one bit and have very high expectations from the way I feel at this point. Good luck!!
I am now 13 days post surgery after having septoplasty, rhinoplasty, and also having a turbinate slightly trimmed (on one side only). My nose was also rebroken as part of my procedure which added to the trauma from the normal surgery a bit. It DOES get better, improvement and recovery was just slower than I expected.
I found the pain immediately post surgery to be moderate and actually slightly better than what I had expected. The worst discomfort I had was actually my throat being badly scraped up by the breathing tube insertion and then added irritation from all the post surgery drainage. For me, vicodin and ice was largely adequate to make things bearable. Pain did last for longer than I expected, however, and I didn't completely stop using vicodin at night to sleep until yesterday (Day 12). I quit taking it during the day at about day 6 or 7. Bleeding was extremely heavy for the first 3-4 days. During the first couple days I was changing the gauze about every 2-3 hours due to it being completely saturated with blood. I was not able to remove the gauze from beneath my nose until about day 6 when the bloody drainage finally stopped completely. I slept sitting upright in a recliner for the first five days or so. Sleeping lying down was not possible at all for me. Keeping your head elevated at night like this helped me a lot. Laying down was just extremely uncomfortable and also made the bleeding heavier. I got fatigued VERY easily during the first 10 days or so. A 10 year old could have beat me up. Don't plan on going back to work in three days or something equally insane.
Swelling was quite severe and I was not able to draw any air at all through my nose until about day 5. At that time, I could only draw a slight trickle of air through one side every once in a while and breathing through my nose was certainly out of the question. As my nose was also rebroken, I also had dual black eyes that started to slowly fade away from day 5 through today when they are finally gone.
I did not start flushing my nose and sinuses with warm saline solution until about day 5. I would not recommend doing this until your bleeding stops or slows to almost nothing but listen to your Dr. on that. I was given a plastic bottle with a hooked spout which essentially functioned just like a netti pot using a salt/saline solution to squirt up your nose. It's unpleasant at first but definitely pays dividends to do on the schedule your doctor gives you. You will flush out all kinds of dried blood, scabs, crusted mucous, and other unidentifiable crud, by doing this. It speeds up the healing process and will eventually actually feel good to do once you already have the bulk of all this crud flushed out. During days 5-9 or so, I would always be able to breath a little but after flushing my nose and sinuses like this, however, everything would then swell shut again after 5-10 minutes. Later, my airways started to stay open after flushing with saline. Especially, if I did it just before bed and then immediately followed the flushing with a squirt of Afrin or some other decongestant. Doing this each night made sleeping much easier from about day 9 or so on.
Since day 9 or so, I have noticed my swelling going down about 5% a day or so with my ability to breath through my nose increasing at about the same rate. Today is probably the first day I could walk a block or two with my mouth closed and get enough air through my nose to be comfortable. I expect this to continue to improve as my nose is still swollen (the tip is still numb to the touch and feels bulbous even though it looks normal in appearance). Right now I would say I am now breathing through my nose only a tiny bit better than I was pre-surgery, however, if this continues to improve at 5% a day for another 4-5 days I will be as happy as a clam that I did this. I can already tell that the airway path is dramatically straighter than it was before the surgery so I expect things will only get better as the internal swelling continues to go down. From what I've read, maximum benefits aren't normally reached until 1-2 months after surgery, so being where I am at 13 days, I am extremely optimistic about how I will feel at one month.
My pain at day 13 is almost completely gone and I managed to go the gym for a light workout this morning for the first time. There is a faint ache from my nose as if I bruised it a day or two ago and it is also faintly sore to the touch. From what I've read the numbness to the tip of the nose can often last up to one month and is an effect of the nerves further up in the nose being traumatized from the surgery. You can also experience temporary tooth sensitivity or numbness for the same reason.
So to summarize: Pain was a little less intense than I expected but also lasted much longer than I expected. Bleeding was much heavier than I expected and lasted till day 5 for me. This was the same day stitches and the splint were removed. I was unable to sleep except sitting up for nearly a week and couldn't breath adequately through my nose until about day 12 (still improving daily at about 5% a day). I was able to go back to work 7 days after my surgery but got very tired very fast the first couple days back. Flushing with saline from days 5-13 (now) before bed followed with a squirt of nasal decongestant helped with sleeping a lot. Don't plan on going back to work for at least a week and plan on tiring out very easily for at least the first two weeks. So far I don't regret doing this one bit and have very high expectations from the way I feel at this point. Good luck!!
Had my septoplasty yesterday for deviated septum on the left side... i was in hospital for 8am.. got taken into theatre at round 10am was out for round 11.30am woke at round 12.00 with stinging pain in nose.. was given codiene.. then was on the wards for 7 hours my nose dripped with blood the whole time and i was pissing like a camel. nose is still really sore.. the side that i had operated on fells congested and blocked... ive been washing it with the isotonic saline... docotor said it should take 2 weeks before it wil heal and i should avoid all contact sports... cant wait for it to heal so i can breath properly for once in my life
I had a septoplasty on the 6th Jan 2011 it is now the 10th and I am feeling ok. I have minimal pain and no headaches like i used to get before. I have not noticed a big difference in breathing at the moment but i think that is due to the fact that it is starting to scab and heal so feeling like i have just got a common cold and a little congested. I had no splints or stiches just ballons in my nose for the first night which where removed by the Dr the next morning. I get a little discharge on occasion but nothing major and rather then red blood it is a watered down pink colour. Reading all the comments above I can safley say I am not in pain like some of you are complaing about. Maybe it all depends on the surgeon and your state of mind and how quickly you want to recover. I have found taking warm showers to relax the nose and soften the inside helps. I have been going about my buisness as normal the only thing I find is that mty teeth feel a little weird and the skin feels streached around my nose when I laugh but its only been a few days since the surgery so that would be expected. I have a post op on saturday the 12th so will post again on how that went.
This topic was very useful for me. I am going to be having septoplasty on 3/18/11 and was told by my doctor in the office that he would perform this surgery on Friday and I could return to work on Monday! I took it upon myself to take the week off as I will still have splints in my nose and was told by his office staff that I wouldn't be able to bend. Thanks for all the info everyone! Now I have an idea of what to expect!
yeh its been 5 weeks since operation... one nostril is still congested.. how long before its sorted?