The snack ziplocks make it possible to put an end on each eye, and make a little tent over the nasal bridge to avoid contact with the nose and splint. I cooled my eye area on the day of surgery and the first day afterward. On the second day, I cooled my eyes a few times just because it felt good.
Initially, I started out with five pillows that were stacked more or less stacked on edge in a two-tier effect. Later, I tried the inverted-V configuration suggested by Tracy, and that worked better. The inverted-V arrangement starts with 2 pillow arranged such that bottom of the V is at the head of the bed. Lay one or two pillows horizontally across the inverted-V such that there is an incline toward the head of the bed.an infrequent
To keep the external sutures on my columella clean, I used a Q-tip dipped in 3% hydrogen peroxide, and gently dabbed the area twice a day. Hydrogen peroxide may also be used to loosen the outer red crusties around the nostrils. Fortunately, I didn't have much of a problem with the red crusties.
After the packing had been removed, the tip and nostrils seemed to get tight a few times a day. This tightness sometimes reduces airflow a little bit. Using the saline spray immediately relaxes the tightness.
Often, mucus build-up decreased the airflow. To remove some of the mucus, I'd use the saline spray for several rounds over a 15 minute to half hour period. With my well wetted nose, most of the time I could breathe heavily (not really blow) to get the mucus out.
Sometimes, even doing a lot of saline spraying didn't do a good job clearing out the mucus. After all of the internal stitches had finished dissolving (3-4 weeks post-op), I would tip my head back in the shower and let the fine stream of water hit my upper lip. Some of warm water would work its way up the nostrils, and eventually drip down the back of my throat. The water entering the nostrils was not so strong as to cause a headache effect, and was very effective at really loosening the mucus. Perhaps, it was the intense humidity and the warmth of the water as opposed to volume of the water that made this effective for me.
One of the unsung benefits of being a full five and a half feet tall is that few people will ever be in the position to look up my nose. Unless I'm standing right over someone, no one is going to even get a chance to get a good gander at the underside of my columella. My columella scar is almost a secret, and rhinoplasty spotters are not going to have a tough time spotting this one.
To help my columella scar heal, Dr. Romano recommended that I massage some Aloe vera cream into it. I've been using Aloe vera cream (72% pure), so that might be why my scar is healing faster than I expected. There are Aloe vera gels available (99% pure), but I'm not sure if a more pure gel would be any more effective.
Dr. Romano informed me that the nasal area is one of the two places in the body where erectile tissue occurs. You can can probably guess the other place that's home to erectile tissue. When I was doing aerobic exercise the nasal erectile tissue would swell and block the airway. That's why I'd have to resort to breathing through my mouth. When the aerobic exercise stopped, the erectile tissue reverted to its former state. This is just one more thing that's part of the healing process and will eventually go away. On the bright side, there isn't any mucus secreted or any kind of dripping that gets in the way of a work-out.
| Sure, a shower shield looks silly, but it took all of the worry out of getting my splint wet while showering. All it took was a a piece of Saran Wrap, folded in half, three strips of 3M Micropore 1" tape (which is also used for nasal taping), and there you have it – Steve's Shower Shield! You need to fold the Saran wrap in half to give it a little structural stiffness. Make sure that the lower edge of the plastic is above your mouth, just in case it folds in around your nose. |
