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Your Revision Rhinoplasty Procedure
Your revision rhinoplasty procedure can be performed in a surgeon's office-based facility, in a hospital, or in an outpatient surgical facility. Because of the additional challenges, a revision rhinoplasty procedure may take longer than
an initial rhinoplasty procedure. If you're having an extensive follow-up
procedure, you can count on being in the operating room for approximately
three to four hours. However, if you're only having a minor touch-up, your
procedure will take about one to two hours. The procedure is most often
performed either with a combination of local anesthetics and sedation or with
general anesthesia. In most cases, revisions are performed using open
rhinoplasty, although closed rhinoplasty may be suitable in some instances.
Some revision rhinoplasty procedures require cartilage grafts or soft-tissue grafts as discussed in Chapter 5. Likewise, alloplastic implants, also discussed in Chapter 5, may be necessary.
Recovering from Revision Rhinoplasty
You can expect your recovery from revision rhinoplasty to take somewhat
longer than your recovery from your primary procedure. The amount of time it
takes for your nose to heal also depends on whether you've had a minor
touch-up or a major revision. Major revisions tend to take at least a year to heal.
 Following revision rhinoplasty, you may experience some discomfort, but
this can usually be alleviated with pain medication. Your surgeon will also
provide you with instructions to help reduce swelling and to make you more
comfortable while you heal at home or at an aftercare facility. As with any
surgical procedure, healing is highly individualized, however, most patients who
have a minor touch-up feel well enough to resume work and normal activities
within a week. Most patients who have extensive revision require about two
weeks to resume work and normal activities. Your surgeon will likely advise you to avoid exercise - such as weight lifting, running, cycling, or other
aerobics - for at least four weeks. Avoid all contact sports for at least six
weeks.
Side Effects and Complications
You should be aware that in addition to the side effects and complications
associated with primary rhinoplasty, certain side effects and
complications are increased with revision rhinoplasty, including:
- excessive scarring
- prolonged swelling
- small burst blood vessels
Follow-up Appointments
 After your revision rhinoplasty, you can expect to have several
follow-up appointments with your surgeon. Typically, you'll be asked to
visit your surgeon's office the day after your procedure and perhaps the
next day as well. If nasal packing was used, it will be removed at one of
these visits. You may be asked to return for three or four more visits
within the first few weeks after surgery. Usually about one week after
your surgery, your surgeon will remove any splints placed on your nose
and will remove any nonabsorbable stitches. After these initial visits, your
surgeon may want to see you on a monthly basis and then on a quarterly
basis during the first year after your procedure. After that, you may be
asked to return on a yearly basis.
Your Final Results
Following revision rhinoplasty, it may take a year or longer before
you see your final results. However, you can expect to see positive
results long before a year has passed. In fact, swelling should begin to
subside after two weeks and will continue to improve each week or
month. You can expect about 70 percent of the swelling to have faded
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