Nosebleeds - how long did they last for you?

[clairelou]

Hi everyone.

I had upper and lower jaw surgery with genioplasty on 17 September 2014 (almost two weeks ago). I had a severe nosebleed two nights after surgery which had to be cauterised and packed for 24hrs. This stopped and the nosebleeds have been light ever since being home.

Yesterday I had another couple of bleeds which stopped within a few minutes but are happening every time I get up, lean forward, etc. I had another slight bleed this morning.

The on-call Dr just says this "is common".

Just wondering how long the nose bleeds lasted for you? I expected them for the first week or so but I thought they would have calmed down by now.

Cheers, Claire

[amyjand]

I only had upper jaw surgery so it may be different but mine stopped after the first two days. There was an option for my doctor to insert these like tampon looking things into my nose, for extended relief. I didn't end up using them because mine ended but it could be an option for you. Are you keeping your head elevated?

[macve004]

Hi Claire,

Congratulations on being two weeks out! I had double jaw surgery (no genioplasty) in August and the nosebleeds were by far the most irritating thing ever. Mine lasted about 13 days. I saw a steady decrease in the amount of blood through those thirteen days, and then they just stopped. One thing you might do is ensure that whatever environment you're in isn't dry due to AC or heating (this was a big mistake for me--once I opened the windows and let outside air into the apartment my sinuses healed so much faster). I also used a dab of neosporin on a q-tip to rub just where I could see broken blood vessels with a flashlight two or three times daily. Not sure how much of my healing was accelerated due to this, but I felt like it helped. My surgeon said it was okay to do so as long as I didn't put a load of it right up my nose (petrol products tend to stick to the lungs if you inhale them deeply, so don't do that if you use them).

Aside from that anectode, keep your nasal linings moisturized, clean, and free of blood clots as often as possible. It sounds like you're doing better already. Give it a little more time and I'm sure things will settle!

Best of luck to you!

[macve004]

Also, since you're two weeks out your energy should be returning fairly rapidly. A technique I found to reduce the nosebleeds due to the leaning forward or sitting up was just to, quite literally, maintain perfect straight posture whenever I was sitting (i.e. straight up, hinged at the pelvis with no kinks or bends in neck or back). This made it so that when I stood, at least, my head was already up straight and thus had no excess blood flow whose pressure could cause then-healing nasal capillaries to burst. Give it a try and see if you notice any difference!

[bracedhubbyswife]

Thank you for this post! My husband had SARPE done on Oct 8 and I came here looking for advice about the nose bleeds. We were both quite nervous about it, but this post has eased my mind a little. He was doing great about a day after surgery, and last night (4 days post op) they started up quite rapidly again. I am just glad to know this is common!

[samoorelaw]

I had a LeFort I and my nosebleeds lasted about 3-4 days, with gushing nosebleeds the first day (I'll never forget how badly I panicked when this happened just hours after surgery even though I knew to expect it!).

[mkmoritz]

I never had bad nosebleeds... Blood would only come out a little, when I got up to go to the bathroom, or if I was standing up for too long.

My nose was "bleeding" for about 6-7 days afterwards though. The use of saline seems to be subjective among surgeons, but mine suggested I spray the saline every 30 minutes. This was a pain, but I think it definitely minimized the severity of my nosebleeds.

I had double jaw surgery