After Deviated Septum Surgery: How to Ensure a Quick Recovery
So you have decided to go for deviated septum surgery. Anyone preparing for any kind of surgery ought to feel a bit nervous and that is perfectly normal. While you know what exactly is going to happen during the surgical procedure, what you are more worried about is what to expect during and after deviated septum surgery and what you need to do to ensure fast recovery.
If one was to believe experts and patients who have undergone similar surgery before, the days after deviated septum surgery ought to be as smooth as the surgery itself and the recovery is also expected to be quick. Even then, there are several facts that you need to know so that nothing comes to you as a surprise after deviated septum surgery.
What to Expect Immediately After Deviated Septum Surgery
You know by now that the name of the surgical procedure to repair your deviated septum is called septoplasty. Immediately after deviated septum surgery, you should expect some minor inflammation around your nose and eyes. You also need to be prepared to face the fact that your nose will have soft splints as these are necessary for the septum to heal and retain its new repositioning.
For the same reason, your nose will also be filled with soft gauze or cotton. Make sure that your nose is not shifted or disturbed to allow the splints and packs left in the nostrils to help heal the wounds. You will need to live with these reinforcing materials for 3 to 5 days.
There could be a visible change in the appearance of your nose after deviated septum surgery. Skin discoloration on certain parts of the nose is another possibility. A kind of reconstructive surgery like rhinoplasty may be required to fix these problems.
Pain and Swelling after Deviated Septum Surgery
No one has ever heard of a surgical procedure that does not leave behind some amount of pain and swelling. Likewise, after septoplasty, you could experience some mild pain, swelling, as well as bruising immediately after deviated septum surgery.
The good news is that the pain can be taken care of by any usual pain reliever. Inform your surgeon well in advance if you have any specific allergy towards any pain medications. If the pain stays after a few weeks, you need to see your doctor immediately.
Complications and Risks Involved During and After Deviated Septum Surgery
Like any kind of surgery, septoplasty also involves some amount of risk and complications including:
- Adverse or allergic reaction to the kind of anesthetic used and scarring inside the nasal cavity may cause further breathing problems.
- Uncontrolled bleeding is a possibility.
- Post-operative infections.
- Fluid build-up inside the nasal cavity causing inflammation and discomfort.
- Altered sensation on the nose is another possibility.
How to Quickly Recover after Deviated Septum Surgery
Like any other surgical operation, rest and relaxation are important for a speedy recovery. And septoplasty is no exception to this rule.
You might have to be driven home from the clinic where the septoplasty is done. To speed up the recovery, it is a good idea not to strain too much immediately after deviated septum surgery. Therefore, you should consider taking 4 to 5 days off from work, stay at home and rest.
For about 2 weeks after deviated septum surgery, do not lift any heavy object or do any strenuous physical exercise. In fact, you should avoid air travel immediately after deviated septum surgery, since change in air pressure within the flight cabin could aggravate your newly-repaired deviated septum.
For a nose job you want to wait until your face has completed its growth. Typically that will be around 14 for females. Your doctor would continue to measure your height over time, and if you haven’t grown in some time, you are likely done growing.
my son has a deviated septum surgery he is 10 years old is it ok to do surgery?
i got mine done and im 16 i have taken a week off from school and i was wondering would i be able to go outside and go anywhere in a car? or go to a friends house or something?
Hi Layla – the general advice is to not put your body through any strain for a week after the surgery (like lifting heavy things, etc.). I don’t think going a car or to a friend’s house falls into that category.
Marc
I saw your post but no one replied. I’m sorry I don’t know the answer. I have a question as well. Perhaps someone will answer us.
My question..
How much pain is involved?
My family member is on psych meds and I’m concerned about her having pain (I’ve heard this is a very painful surgery) and not being able to sleep (can’t breathe through her nose for 2 weeks). and how that will effect her psychologically during this period.
I can’t afford someone to stay with her.
I’ve only heard from one person who said this is very painful. Can anyone comment? She could take a little tylenol-3 but not alot of pain medicine because of the medicine she’s on.
I appreciate any comments.
Thank you.
Hi Lynne – great question. If your sister will be using general anesthesia, there obviously won’t be any pain during the surgery (because she’ll be knocked out).
After the surgery, most patients experience mild to moderate pain. But in some cases, patients do experience severe pain. In that case, the patient should ask their doctor for additional/stronger painkillers.
Hope that helps,
Marc
It’s really not painful. I just had this surgery along with sinus surgery and I haven’t taken any pain meds at all, though they were prescribed and I filled the prescription. Your nose burns a little bit inside and you can’t bump or can hardly touch the outside or it hurts, but it’s really not painful. The biggest problem for me was the bleeding. It just drips blood for the whole first day. It’s true you can’t really breathe much through your nose. Have to breathe through your mouth most of the time. I got cotton squares that didn’t have the gauze over them and cut them into strips, then the strips in half and rolled them and stuck them in my nostrils the first day as that was about the only way to keep up with the bleeding. Any kind of activity makes it worse so best to just stay on the sofa or something. I didn’t really lay down the first day, propped myself up with pillows and slept the first night the same way, which was a pain. I was afraid I would bleed all over otherwise. Your throat is also really sore from the tube they put in during surgery. I had soup and lots of tea the first few days. But you can eat normally as well; it’s not that bad. I’ve also used Afrin nasal spray twice a day and that’s helped the breathing through my nose somewhat during the day. Good luck.
Wow, that’s great information, Mona – thanks a lot for sharing!
Marc
I had a septoplasty on 4/15 and i have the worst pain and discomfort you can imagine. I will see the doctor on thursday to remove the packing . I heard that is very painful… Can anyone share their experience?
I just had this surgery on july 13th. Yes, you will have packing put in your nose. I had mine removed on the 15th. I heard that taking out the packing was very painful, so I took 2 of my pain pills about an hour before my appt. I go in Friday to have my nose cleaned out. The doctor told me not to blow my nose during this time. That has been the worst part so far. I had a great doctor who knew exactly what he was doing. I had no, excessive bleeding, bruising, pain, no nothing.
I am getting the same surgery this week and I spoke to a man who had the same surgery from the same doctor. He said the amount of pain he was in was the worst he ever experienced in his life and it got so bad he was in the ER for the pain. He said the first week was unbearable, and the next 2 were not good. I am still willing to deal with it to breathe right, but every place online I see says ‘mild pain’ and everyone I talked to said they were glad to have it done, but the pain was terrible.
Can I Fly after 5 days after the DNS surgery?
Will it cause any problems? if yes, what problems??
Hi Rahul – thanks for your question. While it’s best to check with your doctor on this, it’s advisable to reduce any strains on your body for the week after surgery. This would probably include the (physical) pressure that comes from flying.
Hope that helps,
Marc
this is a vey painful surgery mostly becuse of the pressue build up because of the guaze
That’s a great point, Zach – but “painful” depends on who you ask! In general, a patient can expect mild to moderate pain after the surgery. But in some instances, a patient will experience a lot of pain. In those cases, the patient should ask their doctor for additional/stronger painkillers.
Marc
It has been a few months since I have had the surgery and everything went well. I now notice though that when i scrub my face or accidently touch noticed that just below the tip of my nose, on my left side, it feels like there’s something sharp in there.I don’t feel ANY pain or discomfort from it UNLESS I happen to touch it.
Any input would be appreciated.
Dyanne
Hi Dyanne – it sounds like the pain could be related to the suturing of your nose. But I don’t think you’ll know for sure until you get your doctor to take a close look at it.
Marc
my son has deviated septum surgery and he is 10 years old. is it good to do surgery at his 10 years of age?
Discuss your son’s surgery with your doctor. As what effect him still growing will have on this. I would think it wouldn’t be a problem. On the other hand if the deviated septum is not causing any problems, you might talk with the doctor about waiting till he is grown.
I had the surgery Tuesday, and today is Saturday. It was very uncomfortable for the first 36 hours, or until they removed the packing. The removal of the packing didn’t really hurt a lot but felt very odd. I have been taking my painkillers as prescribed, and notice that if I let them wear off, it is very sore. Sleeping is a pain as well, because you have to be elevated. Still to early to go yahoo…but so far so good. Don’t be fooled though…it hurts.
STILL haveing breathing problems after 1 1/2 weeks after septum surgery. My nostrils are sowre and I can hardly breathe, even after the stints were removerd. I am taking sinus meds and nasal sprays, which helps some… What the heck!!!???
I am going to have this procedure along with a turbinoplasty. The turbines are those hot dog shaped things in the nose with little hairs on them. They warm, clean, and moisturize the air before it goes in your lungs. With a deviated septum often some of the turbines will enlarge and that causes problems too.
How soon can the nose packing be taken out?
How soon does the bleeding stop?
I’m 33m and had septoplasty & nose surgery — exactly 1 week later i started having seizures. Are these related??? no family history of seizures …just diabetes
My brother has deviated nasal septum with sinus problem from the past five years.he had taken lot of medicine, but it is not cure.so anyone can tell me the diagnosis solution.
Just had my deviated septum surgery today about 12 hours ago. No gauze packing was used, instead the doctor inserted plastic splints. There is no real pain in the nose, just extremely uncomforable because i can only get about 10% of the normal airflow through my nosrils due to the splints and all the wet and dry blood. My throat hurts somewhat due to the tube used in surgery and lips continually dry due to having to breath through my mouth.
I had the same surgery done when i was 16 (i am now 35) and back then they packed each nostril with a foot or two of gauze. This fixed my breathing problem by about 90% up until the last 5 years when it felt like breathing through my nose was agin getting harder.
Just had the surgery Wednesday 7/6/11 I stayed at the hospital from surgery 10am until 5pm that day due to very very nauseated, the first day was uncomforable throwiing up and asking mself “why did I do this” but I have to say the second-fourth day were the hardest lots of pain and sleeping well I got nun
the fourth day was the worst and not my nose but the pain meds took a turn on me made me really sick and lots of anxiety today is the fifth day and my body feels better but the nose feels like it has a heart beat ouch! no matter how painful it is to get the splints out I CANNOT WAIT! boy are they uncomfortable! well I will keep you posted after Wednesday to see how it feels after the splints are out
hi. I’ve a question. I’ve had the DNS surgery 2 years back. However,the symptoms are back and I’m worried the DNS has flared up again. So my question is can you get the DNS back even after the surgery? Thanks.
I had surgery on 8-16-2011. Yes it was painful. The splints were horrible in and when they took them out yesterday. Pain medication did help. The worst part now is the nose is dry, very tender,and sleep doesn’t come easy. You fall off pillows and hit nose accidentally or rub it a little when it itches and you wake right up. I have mainly sleep in recliner for 3 days and now trying bed. I am glad I did surgery. My asthma had gotten really bad.
17 year old guy here. I just had the surgery done yesterday and it went pretty smoothly. I did have one complication; became pretty dehydrated while I was under, which meant they wanted me to pee before I left and I had to be hooked up to iv’s twice. I felt decently sick during that time, but by the time I went home I was fine. I went to bed with propped up pillows so my torso and head were leaned up, and simply taped some gause up against the bottom of my nose. I’ve changed the gause a few times now and already I’m not really seeing any blood on it. As far as pain goes, I literally have none so far. It just feels like a clogged nose. I kind of want to clean my nostrils because looking in the mirror I can see alot of dry blood, but I’m not supposed to really touch it.
Just had my surgery 5 days ago. The pain is not bad.had my packing and splints removed the day after surgery. My biggest issue is a noticeable voice difference. Very nasally with n,m, and ing sounds. My breathing has not improved much yet. At this point I am very upset with myself for having this done. Any advice or similar cases
Just had my surgery 5 days ago. The pain is not bad.had my packing and splints removed the day after surgery. My biggest issue is a noticeable voice difference. Very nasally with n,m, and ing sounds. My breathing has not improved much yet. At this point I am very upset with myself for having this done. Any advice or similar cases
I am feleing the same way it has been four weeks and every time they need to cut out scar tissue that is very painful and bleeds for hours. Now i ahve spacers in to keep the scar tissue from blocking my air way. my nose still looks the same and breathing is not any easier I dont think it was worth the pain @ all.
What is a good gift for a coworker/friend that just went through the surgery?
I had this surgery a few days back i.e.,, on 09/09/2011..i did not have any kind of pain,just the breathing through my nose was uncomfortable.but the removal of packing hurts a bit..now i feel better..
I had a Diviated Septum in April 2011 My nose still scabs inside and bleeds a little. I use Ayrs jell and use Nasel spray. I also have sleep Apena. Sometime this can be a problem with the mask on and nose and throat get very dry. Anything I can do to help this/ Thank you jean
i had this surgery done about 5 days ago and i havent had any pain from it at all
my packing is still there though and it still drips blood but other than that no pain 
Am considering having the surgery done not due to sleep apnea but to years of voice loss. A few minutes after putting my head down my nose fills up on that side, so I turn to the other and after a few minutes it switches. In the morning one side of my face is blocked (nose and also ear and throat) and then I get sore throats and infections and it often turns into voice loss. This is the part that is distressing as I often need to lose time from work. Have tried antibiotics, homeopathy and reflexology but the voice loss comes back again and again. The rest of it I can live with. Am 53 years old, Are the risks or advantages different at my age? Has anyone had the surgery to help with voice loss problems?
Am considering having the surgery done not due to sleep apnea but to years of voice loss. A few minutes after putting my head down my nose fills up on that side, so I turn to the other and after a few minutes it switches. (Try but can’t sleep without eventually turning my head) In the morning one side of my face is always blocked (nose and also ear and throat) and then I get sore throats and infections which often turns into voice loss. This is the part that is distressing as I often need to lose time from work. Have tried antibiotics, homeopathy and reflexology but the voice loss comes back again and again. The rest of it I can live with. Am 53 years old, Are the risks or advantages different at my age? Has anyone had the surgery to help with voice loss problems?
Hello,
I’m on my 10th or so day after surgery. I had my deviated septum corrected, as well as the “sausage bones” inside (they were emptied out a bit from the inside, as my doctor explained). I also had my sinuses scraped out. All this was done with new instruments that are very presice and doesn’t cause the external bruising as previous types of the surgery (no black eyes for me).
I’m using a neti pot to rinse with, as was recommended to me by my doctor (from Sacramento ENT, btw). The surgery was a breeze, though I woke up really tense in my shoulders (I blame work related stress, and I was fine 20 minutes or so later). However, one has to remember to keep very still right after surgery so as not to cause bleeding. I didn’t get the gauze stuffing, I got some plastic pieces rolled up that pressed against the insides of my nasal passages to stop the bleeding and keep it under control.
Anyway, I was on Vicodin (perscription) for the first 5-6 days until I ran out, and I found that I needed it for pain control. On a scale from 1 to 10, I was probably at a constant 3, so that makes it tough to relax and recover. When the Vicodin ran out, I went over to the over-the-counter Ibuprofen. This is now enough to keep me in a good condition, and popcicles also help a lot (and tastes great, to boot
). The pain is a slightly annoing throbbing between my eyebrows. Again, the neti pot is very helpful. I was quite a bit constipated from the pain medicine, so you’ll want to offset that by drinking fennel tea several times a day (do it before you think you need it, that’s how herbs usually work the best, as a preventive). I wasn’t wise to do it upfront, but believe me it helps, and you’d be better off with that than more pharmasutical drugs, no?
So, if you’re going to have this surgery, have the state-of-the-art version. It’s not bad, but hey, you’re being cut into and stuff… it’s not like your body won’t have no trauma at all, heh. Also, people react differently to pain, and please remember that people may refer to one type of this surgery and not a combination of things, and there’re different versions of the surgeries, too.
Hope this helps – and if you’re in Sacramento, I’d definitely go to Sacramento ENT. Very professional, but I still wish they’d done a better job of removing a couple of the stiches when the plastic pieces came out (that was a rather icky experience, hehe).
OK, I’m going for another popcicle! Good luck to all, and remember to educate yourselves on whatever you or loved ones are doing.
Hi I will be getting this done on the Dec 20th, will I be able to enjoy christmas? I have 3 small kids and dont want to miss out or have them see me in pain, however I need to get this done before jan 1 to be covered at 100% with insure. and there is no other dates up to do it. Please let me know if you had this done how did you feel 5 days out, I know the dr will be useing plastic splints. I dont htink he packs it how ever the splints will not be removed until the 29th. please share how it was for you 5 days out thanks
Just got surgery yesterday and could not feel worse. I have never been in so much discomfort and pain. I want this recovery to be over no matter what. I get my stents out on Wednesday, will my Christmas be ruined?
On 12-22-11,I had 3 hours of surgery for deviated septum and rhinoplasty. Spent the night but went home early the next morning. I had a pain pump that I never used and was getting only .5 cc’s of pain medicine every 30 minutes. The worst side part of the entire procedure was the side effects from the steroid IV from surgery. It caused me to have esophageal spasms for the next 24 hours (better known as hiccups). The first outbreak lasted about 3 hours while in the hospital but have slowly gone away since I got home. If you have had hiccups from a Decadron injection, warn your doc but I think it is rare. Other than that the procedure went great and I have had no pain meds since returning home. The bandage and stuffy nose are getting old but I can actually BREATH again.
Im on my 5th day after surgery…, honestly the pain isn’t bad at all. I haven’t even taken my painkillers. The nosebleed only lasted 2 days, and it wasn’t bad either.
The worst part is how its so stuffed I just can’t breathe half the time…and waking up with my mouth all dry and stuck together. But a humidifier helps that (:
My ent says I have a badly broken nose and need surgery! After reading some of the comments here about pain, vomting, bleeding and breathing problems. I think think this surgery is not for me!
Had mine on the 11th, packing out on the 12th. Painful? Not exactly but just uncomfortable. Maybe because I compare it to a thoracotomy I had last year, this is a walk in the park. I did take one pain pill, mainly to try to sleep more than for the pain. The bleeding has pretty much stopped but now the nose is crusted and clotted and that is irritating. It pulls if you open your mouth too far but all in all, if this will help me breathe, it will be worth it. What is a headache and a few days of discomfort for the ability to be able to breathe like a human instead of a congested bulldog>??