After rhinoplasty surgery and immediately into your rhinoplasty recovery timeline, your first priority should always be to get some rest, relaxation, and keep your head elevated. The rhinoplasty recovery timeline should always start with taking a break from your everyday routine and giving your body time to heal. You’ll probably be pretty exhausted in the early stages of recovery after rhinoplasty and septoplasty.
However, our workout schedule is an indispensable part of our days for many of us and we understand the eagerness to get back into your health and wellness routine. The longer we take a break from it, the more antsy and unhealthy we start to feel. Wanting to get back to our regular schedules is a perfectly understandable desire. But is working out post-surgery safe? Is it feasible? This blog covers the top.
Rhinoplasty Recovery Stages
The first thing that’s essential to establish about recovery after a nose job is that it progresses in stages. The rhinoplasty recovery timeline is going to be different for everyone. You can think of it as a series of challenges that you need to decide how to deal with as they arise and how your body reacts to it.
Immediately after your surgery, you’ll probably feel tired and groggy from the anesthetic. You’ll also have splits and gauze in place. During the day or two after surgery, it’s best to focus on plenty of bedrest, water, and simple softer foods.
You’ll start to feel much better soon after the first week, but you’ll still have that splint and gauze in place. These will typically remain in place for roughly a week. It’s crucial that you keep these in place until your next scheduled visit with your facial plastic surgeon to get them removed at the clinic.
After these medical accouterments have been removed, you’ll probably notice some swelling and facial bruising. However, once the splints come out, you should be fine to resume makeup use on your face to cover this up, should you absolutely find it necessary to. Keep in mind to apply light pressure on the bruised area when applying makeup.
After a few weeks (at most one month), the worst of the swelling and bruising should be gone if you keep up with proper rest, healthy foods, and non direct icing. The final stage of the rhinoplasty recovery timeline is simply waiting for your nose to “settle.” It can take up to several months for your nose to reach its final shape.
Working Out During Your Rhinoplasty Recovery Stages
Up until your swelling goes down, there will be some risks involved with working out. Exercises that raise your blood pressure could lead to nosebleeds or the swelling lasting longer than usual.
Worst of all, would be if you manage to bump or injure your nose during your workouts, or slip and fall if it’s during HIIT or a more high paced fitness class. So what does a reasonable workout schedule during recovery after rhinoplasty and septoplasty look like?
During the first week, you want to take it really easy. Ideally, you should not be working out at all. At most, try to stick to some gentle walking around your house for twenty to thirty minutes at a time. You really want to focus on rest and relaxation. After your split comes out, you can start going for longer walks, and add some recline and resistance if you want to walk uphill outdoors or on a treadmill at a brisk pace.
Low impact exercises can also be considered around 1 week after splints come out as long as they don’t involve potential contact to your face. Something like restorative yoga is a good idea – but you should avoid any poses that put your head (and potentially your nose) directly against the mat. Body weight exercises such as squats can also be incorporated.
After about a month, you should be fine to return to the gym and lift your normal or slightly less than normal weights. If you feel unwell, make sure to contact your facial plastic surgeon. If your cosmetic surgeon gives you permission, you can also pick up swimming after one month is over.
If you have any more concerns about the rhinoplasty recovery timeline, don’t hesitate to contact us right away. We’re always happy to help when it comes to facial plastic surgery!