Nose swelling

[Brah]

Hello! I'm new here, this is my first post in fact, and I just had jaw surgery last Tuesday. I had my lower jaw pulled forward so I have more of a chin and my upper jaw shortened to reduce my gummy smile and visible teeth. Even though I'm still swollen, so far I'm very happy with the results. The one thing I'm not happy about is my new nose. I liked my old nose, so I was hesitant about it changing during the surgery, but my doctor told me the tip would just become a little upturned. But, my nose is visibly wider and bulkier. Since my jaw and face are still pretty swollen I figure my nose is a little swollen too. But since my surgery last week my jaw swelling has gone down considerably, while my nose has remained the same, so I don't think it's going to be a noticeable difference once the swelling in my face is completely down. So for the people who've had this, since it's only been a week and a half since my surgery am I being hasty in my worries? Will any of the swelling in my nose go down, or is this pretty much going to be my new nose?

[Bullfighter]

Hello! I'm new here, this is my first post in fact, and I just had jaw surgery last Tuesday. I had my lower jaw pulled forward so I have more of a chin and my upper jaw shortened to reduce my gummy smile and visible teeth. Even though I'm still swollen, so far I'm very happy with the results. The one thing I'm not happy about is my new nose. I liked my old nose, so I was hesitant about it changing during the surgery, but my doctor told me the tip would just become a little upturned. But, my nose is visibly wider and bulkier. Since my jaw and face are still pretty swollen I figure my nose is a little swollen too. But since my surgery last week my jaw swelling has gone down considerably, while my nose has remained the same, so I don't think it's going to be a noticeable difference once the swelling in my face is completely down. So for the people who've had this, since it's only been a week and a half since my surgery am I being hasty in my worries? Will any of the swelling in my nose go down, or is this pretty much going to be my new nose?

1. It can take 6 months to a year for all the swelling to resolve itself, so it is too soon to judge anything.

2. As a practical matter, you just went through major surgery. Even if you do ultimately want to change your nose again, now is a terrible time to be worrying about it. Focus on healing and maintaining decent nutrition, weight, etc.

3. There are going to be some changes to your face, and you've had your face your whole life, so no matter what the changes are you need to give yourself some time (after the huge stress of surgery) to take it all in. I was worried that my chin was too large a week after surgery, but now that I've had time to get accustomed to it, and had extremely positive feedback from friends, my take is that what I was accustomed to wasn't necessarily "better" or "right".

I would say just relax and recover. You can always have rhinoplasty a year from now if you feel like you need it, but absolutely the last thing your body needs right now is more cutting.

[sarahorsomeone]

My nose was actually the last thing to stop being swollen completely. Even 3 months after the operation it would periodically swell up again, and it was certainly still pretty swollen after a month even though the rest of me didn't look particularly swollen anymore. If you didn't know me before surgery you would have thought I just had a naturally big nose (I had the same worries you have now).

Now, 9 months after surgery, my nose is a little wider and more upturned than before surgery but only very slightly; I'm as happy with it as I ever was.

[Brah]

Thanks for your answers, I'm glad to know the nose does swell some during the surgery. But how much would you say it swells, so that I can just get an idea of how much mine may go down. I'm going to see my surgeon soon for a follow-up, but I'm just focusing on this.

[sarahorsomeone]

How swollen it was depended on how far after surgery you're talking; but it was pretty swollen for a while. At the stage you are now it was very large. My nostrils also looked massive for some time.

At it's worst my nose was so swollen all the gunk in my pores was pushed outwards (jaw surgery... an unconvential way of getting rid of black heads ).

[Brah]

Ha, I have the opposite problem. All the swelling and stuff gave me tons of blackheads.

I can tell my nose is a little swollen, but I'm going to see my surgeon tomorrow and ask him. So far I'm not too content with the surgery. Now that the swelling in my face has gone down I can see that my surgeon barely moved by chin forward, it's practically the same. So I went through years of waiting and a surgery to get the same chin with a wider nose.

[35ksmile]

Ha, I have the opposite problem. All the swelling and stuff gave me tons of blackheads.

I can tell my nose is a little swollen, but I'm going to see my surgeon tomorrow and ask him. So far I'm not too content with the surgery. Now that the swelling in my face has gone down I can see that my surgeon barely moved by chin forward, it's practically the same. So I went through years of waiting and a surgery to get the same chin with a wider nose.

Is your bite fixed?

[Brah]

Yes, my bite is fixed. But in all honesty I didn't care about my bite, I only got my surgery to move my chin forward and fix my smile. I met with my surgeon yesterday, and he said that the fold under my lip is strong so if he moved my chin forward too much it would look strange, so he only moved it forward subtly. I'm trusting him because he's the surgeon and knows his stuff, but I'm disappointed with the results so far. He did say that if I'm not happy after I'm healed that there's a simple out-patient surgery he can do right in the office. I'm thinking he means a genioplasty, which I'm considering now.