Rhinoplasty is not only one of the most popular cosmetic surgery procedures; it is the most popular. Rhinoplasty beat out procedures such as liposuction, breast augmentation, and eyelid surgeries as the most performed procedure.- Sleeping After Rhinoplasty
Rhinoplasty can transform a person’s face, improve the shape of your nose and as well as facial symmetry. However, a big part of determining the success of a rhinoplasty procedure is ensuring proper rest and care is taken following the surgery. But having a comfortable sleep after the procedure can be easier said than done, as it often requires a person to adjust their sleeping position to more easily accommodate your healing nose.
Here is a closer look at sleeping after rhinoplasty.
Why Is Sleep After Rhinoplasty Important?
Rest is important any time you undergo a surgical procedure of any kind, as it helps to keep your immune system at its highest performing state and speed up your recovery time. When you’ve had a surgical procedure, your body is working on overdrive to help you filter out anesthesia and recover from any surgical incisions.
When you sleep, your brain is able to take a pause from many of your conscious functions and is able to focus harder on supplying attention and blood flow to the parts of your body recovering from surgery, like the nose after rhinoplasty.
What’s more, your body is able to create more white blood cells in your sleep, which helps fight off potential infections from hindering your recovery. This is why sleep after rhinoplasty is especially important during the early stages of your recovery when incisions can still be raw and partially exposed.
Sleeping Comfortably After a Nose Job
When recovering from rhinoplasty, the ideal sleeping position is to lay on your back with an elevated recline. The nose is very sensitive and tender following rhinoplasty, as well as extra malleable. Due to this, it is a bad (and painful) idea to put pressure on the nose, which can compromise the integrity of the procedure. This is why laying on your bad and not your side is the ideal position.
As for the elevation, resting at an incline of roughly 35 to 40 degrees helps to reduce swelling, prevent fluid retention in the face, and keeps your airways free of congestion. To achieve this incline, the simplest option is to stack two or three pillows behind you.
It is also recommended that you sleep alone for at least the first few nights of your recovery, as an accidental tap from your partner or a swing of a pet tail to the face can be very painful and damaging to the nose.
Finally, a good investment to make is a wrap-around neck pillow, or a backrest pillow with arms, to help prevent you from turning over easily during your sleep and pressing into the nose. If you can’t purchase one of these, then rolling up blankets on either side of you or stacking existing pillows on either side can also help achieve this goal.
