Recovering from septoplasty surgery

even i have gone through the same when i has surgery before a month....Take headache medicine prescribed by doctore. this helpmed me

Thommo: I too had a bit of numbness in my upper lip and teeth. Google it. This will pass with time. If it doesnt talk to the doc. As Ive said earlier, I had 5 procedures so had quite a bit. Yeah you feel a bit crappy and stuffy, but it will pass. I think I was lucky (as some others have been) in that we didnt have much pain. I had none! But those that did have commented that keep the pain tabs up and it passes in a week or less. There is no magic cure (although I think I had it), and we all heel differently and have diffeent pain threshholds. Be strong as others say, and it WILL get better. I reckon in 1 month at the most 99.9% of people think "well that wasn't as bad as I thought" Also sneeze with your mouth open for at least a month!! Good luck all.  

I had septoplasty and turbinate reduction done last Friday and, apart from waking with a dry mouth for two nights and a bit of drip bleeding for the first three days/nights especially when I moved, I feel remarkably well..just a bit bunged up as if I've had a bit of a cold. My advice, prop yourself up in bed so you don't swallow any blood, try to rest or keep still for the first couple of days, top up the Ibuprofen every four hours for the first two days and use a saline spray to stop crusting twice a day. I feel a bit of a fraud having a two week sick note from work as I feel so great..really surprised how pain-free and 'up' I feel so don't worry about this procedure, it ain't all bad and I can actually breathe for the first time in 20years since I first had my nose broken! Looking forward to a bonus week off work..bring on some sunshine :) Good luck to everyone having this done and here's hoping you have the same experience I'm having :)

Hi, I had my septoplasty 3 days ago to, and I feel exactly the same way, I have a constent headache, and I can't breathe well, there's not really much we can do except get lots of rest, take your medicine, and we have to just deal with it, I think next week we should both feel better, I hope to god so, and I have been sneezing all day today. Good luck!

I'm having bilateral turbinate reduction and septoplasty in August and was wondering about the recovery time.  I'm in college and school starts 2 weeks post op.  I'm more concerned with the medium to long term recovery than the short term.  I will have nothing to do and can suck up 2 weeks of sitting on the couch experiencing pain and being miserable.  My question is when should I expect to breath normally and be able to act like a normal college kid.  Specifically how quickly will I be able to participate in sports or go out on the weekends?

Thommo here: Go back and read some of the stories!! Covered to death about recovery times and what to expect. 3 months for me on 1 August. 100% and been that way for almost 2 months. Go and check some of my comments on here. Based on the latest comments here, it should OK and you will be up and around in a couple of weeks but obviously take it easy. I think a wack on my nose would stil be painful, so i suggest contact sport is a no no. Talk to your doc about this stuff, not internet doctors! :)

Yeah I will definitely talk to my doctor, but I was just looking for other people's experience. I'll check out some of the other stories as well, I've been digging through them and they seem to document the first two weeks well, but then lot's of people seem to stop reporting on the later stages but I'll look more

True, theres not much follow up, hence Im trying to do so. As I mentioned 3 months for me shortly and if you look for "Thommo" comments starting here and scrolling back, Ive made quite a few. I know I was petrified and too much info for me, wasnt a problem, so read up on it. Google stuff and watch youtube if you really want to be scared! .The only downside was that I thought Id be in heaps of pain (again thats from reading info here!)but I had NONE.Overall Id say my nose is a bit tender if I deliberately wack the tip of it with a slapping motion. So I guess eventually it will be 100%. Based on what they do, any wonder it's still a tad sore! :)

Recent septoplasty and turbinate reduction. 28 y/o healthy/fit/active male, no real issues with my nose other than severe deviated septum, restricting about 90% flow through both nostrils. Multiple untreated nose fractures as a kid. Went to ENT.  Was nervous about getting the surgery, especially after reading posts. However, went ahead a had the sx. Sx last tuesday, ~1:10 procedure time, out of the recovery room in about an hour. Home, within 15 min, vomited all of the blood and mucus in my stomach. Felt much better after, and never vomited again. Splints/stents in the nose, no packing. Minimal bleeding, dr said to use nasal spray/afrin-like to vasoconstrict the blood vessels if bleeding occurred. Wore the "nose diaper" for about an hour, bleeding/leaking stopped enough to not have to wear it.  Sat upright on couch for the remainder of the day, mainly drowsy from anesthesia. Pain in nose-yes but not intolerable. Given percocet for pain. I only had to take pain meds for 2 days, then no real need to due pain decrease significantly. Day 2 and 3 were about the same, slow recovery from anesthesia, drowsy/sleepy for most of day. Using antibiotic saline spray every hour or so. Tough trying to sleep for 1st few nights upright. Nose pain seemed to get worse at night. Probably because i was not distracted by the activity in the day. Just laid there thinking about my nose. Day 3 post-op/friday, splints/stents were taken out, slight pinch when clipping the stitch, felt great when the stents were pulled out. Just felt a little pressure. Dr suctioned out the excess mucus and blood/clots. follow up in 5 weeks. In the meantime, was told to get back to work when ready (physical therapist, ease back into working out/exercise (olympic lifting/power lifting/crossfit), resume nasal spray with antibiotic, afrin-like spray for any nose bleeds, neti-pot (i actually use the "sinus rinse") which is great for flushing out clots and mucus.  asked MD about taking out the stents much earlier than posts i have read (3days rather than ~7), he stated the longer they are in, more chance for infection. he also stated that it would not effect the stability of his work either. JUST DONT GET HIT IN THE NOSE!
So today is day 7, back to work, back to training (squats/deadlifts/etc...), no pain meds, no nose bleeds, more awake/alert/energy. No pain, just tender if i touch around the septum area.
daily treatment consists of:
1-sinus rinse
2-antiobotic nasal spray
3-neosporin q-tipped up in my nose all around
job/work
throughout the day, spray, qtip cleaning (gently, not on the surgical site, just around it), reapply neosporin, about once every hour or 2.
in the PM, repeat 1-3, vasaline around the openings to stay moist.  (also helped to put this on the outside of my nose when the stents were in, because the stents do stretch out the skin quite a bit.
I did have some complications, not with my nose, but with my throat. I ended up with whats called "uvular necrosis", google it! pretty sick. Basically, the tube down my throat compressed my uvula for the duration of the procedure, restricting blood flow to the distal 1/3. Tip turned ash white and was extremely tender for about 3-5 days. I couldnt eat anything without pretty bad pain. Meds didnt help, throat spray didnt help, gargling warm salt water didnt help. Basically, just sucked it up and dealt with it. took small bites of soft food until the pain went away. Pain was regardless of temperature also, so ice cream and smoothies made it worse. Along with the uvula issue. I also had some soft tissue, just behind my soft palate torn from the tube as well. (anesthesiologist and/or tech didnt do a very good job). Still having some residual discomfort from that today, depending on how large a bite i take, or type of food.  improved significantly though.  The one thing that did help this pain is cough drops. worked great. still eating them.

all in all, i was nervous at first, went for it, temporary pain for long term benefits. I had a little bit of nose pain for a few days, improved greatly around day 4. minimal bleeding, really only the day of sx, then just leaking every now and again (which has stopped completely), sinus pressure a little, congestion day 3-6 really bad, but improved by now (day 7) able to breathe out of both nostrils, not perfect though( dr said about 2-3 months for full recovery), sinus rinse really helping get the gunk out. keeping the nostrils moist helping greatly, always spraying saline solution even though dr said i could drop down to 1-2 times a day.
other than the rare throat issues, Im very glad (as of now) that I went through with the surgery. I wasnt too sure the first 4 days though. telling myself "if i could go back, i wouldnt have done this". but im glad i did. ive read a lot of posts on terrible experiences, and just wanted to give my story. Ill post back in a few weeks for an update. I know it helped me to read up on other peoples experiences to see what I was getting myself in to, and if what I was going through during recovery is normal.
Good luck to all that are about to go under, hand in there to all the newby's that just got theirs, and to those that are still thinking, read up and familiarize yourself with the operation. careful with most posts as they are a small percentage of horror stories. yes its painful, but doesnt last forever, yes lots of congestion and pressure, but that too goes away. just stay focused on the long term goal, and short term survival. definitely worth it.
hope this helped.

Dear I want to done my septoplasty and turbinate reduction after 20 days but i am afraid of Anesthesia and open mouth breatihng casue its difficult thing please guide i am nervous and confuse.

Thommo: great write up and being a young fit bloke you obviously will heal more quickly. Take it easy with the workouts champ!



Check back in and let us all know how it's going.

Thommo: So your operation is in 20 days?



I too was a bit nervous about mouth breathing but your body is very clever and will do it automatically! No need to worry. You cant choke yourself. Your body will do what it needs to get air!



I was probably MORE scared about the anaesthesia!! I know how youre feeling I just thought that I'll never wake up again, and my life is over. Seems to be a fairly normal thought from reading here and other web sites! The statisitics are hugely in your favour that you WILL be alright.



Your nose starts the healing process immediately, but in about 2-3 days after using the salt solution, you will start to breathe a bit through one then the other nostril. Some people take longer, others a bit less. Not knowing what you are having done, it's difficult to gauge what your recovery time would be. Please discuss this with your surgeon!



As mentioned MANY times by many people on here and elsewhere, you have to weigh up the week or two of annoyance and some discomfort and pain, with how bad you are now (which is why you NEED the surgery), and how GOOD you will be for the rest of your life!

I am having a septoplasty, closed reduction fracture, and bilateral turbinate colbation tomorrow. I fell over the weekend and broke my nose in 4 places :(

My question is: Do they intubate you for the surgery? I've only been under anesthesia for wisdom teeth extraction and am nervous about possibly being intubated, having never experienced that.

well done Thommo good writing and i am satisfied really

i had it done 2 weeks ago. not the nicest thing ive had done, had that much co-codamol i was floating more than in pain. about 7 days after i started to feel better by the day. hope will all be worth it in the end. it was a nice DAY off work i suppose haha. everyone get black eyes? as i didnt