Dealing with nose congestion post-op :(

[atanu83]

I am on day 3 of my post op for Lefort 1. Any ideas on how to tackle nose congestion? Its killing me and to breathe through my mouth is extremely uncomfortable among other things. Please advice.

[DRG]

First off, congratulations on the surgery. I too suffered from congestion, stuffy nose and tremendous discomfort for the first days after my own double jaw surgery.

In my experience I only found relief initally using nasal spray (ie. Afrin). However, that is a short term answer and one needs to avoid using such a nasal spray for more than two days in a row - otherwise the congestion comes back with a vengence. A short time after surgery, more than a week, I was finally bold enough to irrigate my nose & sinuses using a neti-pot & associated salt solution. I was worried that would be too aggressive, undoing the healing process. By that time in my healing though, it was not, and provided tremendous relief. My facial swelling had already begun to go down too, which also made a significant difference, so on that front I'd say time and patience are the best medicine.

You'll feel better soon, if not already (considering you are at Day 8 at the time I'm writing this).

DRG

[projo198]

BREATH RIGHT STRIPS! They were little miracles for me after my surgery!

[LAJaw]

I too had terrible, horrible congestion for the first week post-op. It made it so I couldn't really sleep at all the first week. I used a neti pot religiously to try to flush out as much of that bloody gunk as possible and it'd give me temporary relief. After the first week it started clearing up by itself.

Good luck, first week is awful & terrible but after you get past it it's all downhill.

[CaliforniaKid]

I used afrin a few times but my nose was never seriously congested. have you considered a steam shower?