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Broken nose can be important in both cosmetic and functional aspects. Not every broken nose needs surgery to be fixed but for every fractured nose you are better to get professional aids to check your nose for complications and to know what you need to do for your nose.
Based on the severity of the injury, the location, complications and other factors, various actions may be needed to be done.
To explain more, if your nose is fractured and misshaped and you have visited a plastic surgeon within 10 days to two weeks of the injury the surgeon can do a close reduction without invasive surgery to fix the bones in their right places, but if you have not undergone that during this window period of time, an open reduction and rhinoplasty will be necessary.
To get rhinoplasty for a broken nose for cosmetic or/ and medical goals you need to wait 6 months for the bones to get stable and then get a rhinoplasty to fix a broken nose.
You can find more information with details in this present essay.
A broken nose happens when there is a break or crack in your nasal bones or cartilages which mostly placed over nasal bridge or septum. Nasal damage is the most common damage among facial damages and it is common in men twice more than women.
Every activity that causes trauma directly or indirectly to your nose can cause a fractured nose. The most common reasons of nasal trauma are motor vehicle accidents, fallings, physical fights and contact sport injuries for example in wrestling, football and etc.
There are some symptoms that can happen in a fractured nose including: pain and tenderness, nasal bleeding or other drainages from your nose like mucus, swelling (that can disappear in few days or weeks), bruising around your nose or eyes (that often disappears in 2 weeks).
when you touch or press your nose you may hear crunching or crackling noise, nasal breathing difficulties, changes in nose shape that can appear after the swelling will be disappeared), septal hematoma of the nose.
If you don’t pay attention enough after a facial trauma especially a direct trauma to your nose, some complications can happen for example if you don’t get a septal hematoma diagnosed as soon as possible and then you don’t get it drained, it can cause abscesses and septal deformities and even a saddle nose deformity.
Some of the other complications are: permanent difficulties in breathing, infections in the nose, sinuses or bones, a crooked nose and deviation of the septum, restricted airflow and even loss of olfactory sense.
First of all you should let a medical professional provider diagnose if your nose is fractured or not and what should be done for it.
So the diagnosis will be done through a physical examination including touching gently the nose and areas around it and also to check the nasal passage and septum to consider if there is an obstruction or septal hematoma. If you have intense pain the doctor may have to use some anesthesia to make the examination possible.
X-ray and CT scan is often unnecessary to make a diagnosis of a broken nose but sometimes they are done to determine other facial damages associated with nose injury or to see the severity of the damage.
If the trauma is not that severe and the nose is not crooked or misshaped you may be able to do first aids at home by yourself.
some of the self-care actions you should do is to put pressure on your nose by your fingers to help the bleeding to get stopped and elevate your head, you also need to use ice packs on your nose to reduce the swelling immediately and during first two days after injury.
If you are feeling intense pain you also can use an over the counter pain killer such as acetaminophen to decrease the pain.
There are some actions you shouldn’t do after an injury happens to your nose for example you don’t have to try to realign your nose if you see any deformities, you are better not to use non steroid anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen for the pain as they can increase bleeding and do not move if you suspect any head and neck injury.
If any of these symptoms happens you should try to see a medical professional provider or go to Emergency room: when you think there is a blood clot in the septum of your nose (septal hematoma), when the bleeding doesn’t stop, when the nose is misshaped or crooked, when you have breathing difficulties or any nonstop drainages from your nose like clear fluid or any suspects of head and neck injury.
You may think there is no need to get more specific help for your broken nose but As you know, nose is placed in the central part of the face and has a very important effect in someone's appearance so it will be kind of crucial to make sure that after a nose trauma your nose is not going to be misshaped or the bones or cartilages are not going to be shifted and out of their own placed.
Beside of the cosmetic goals if any structural defect happens can cause breathing difficulties. You should know that even nose can heal after a serious injury but still can cause some difficulties in breathing. You ought to see the specialist after 48-72 hours so the swelling will go down by then.
First of all if in the examination of your nasal septum there is a septal hematoma (which is collecting blood under the mucus of your septum inside your nose); you need to get that septal hematoma drained by the medical provider.
If a septal hematoma stay untreated it can distract septum of the nose, necrosis and finally a saddle nose deformity.
If your nasal bones are misshaped and displaced you may need a close or open reduction. They can be done based on the severity, the locations of the break and the time that has passed from the injury.
If your nasal bones are displaced and misshaped and you have seen a facial plastic surgeon within 10 to 14 days after the injury, regarding to your doctor's discretion you may undergo a manual realignment also known as close reduction as the bones are not still fused in their wrong position.
In this procedure your surgeon after using local or general anesthesia try to realign and straighten your broken nose by manipulation and external pressure or some special instruments without needing any invasive procedure or incisions.
In this close reduction after the realignment procedure is done, the surgeon will put some internal packing inside your nostrils and also some dressing on the outside of your nose.
It might be needed to use a splint inside your nose to help your nasal bones to shape better. These splint, packing and dressing can be removed after one week. You can get back to your daily life after one week but better to avoid heavy sport activities for 6-10 weeks as your nasal bones can easily shift out of their right place.
Breaks that have stayed untreated more than the window period of time 10 to 14 days after surgery, multiple nasal breaks and severe fractures can't be treated by a close reduction and your surgeon needs to do an open surgery.
In the case that the surgeon put the nasal bones in their original own place to back to their shape the surgery is called an open reconstructive surgery.
If you want to do the surgery to reach to cosmetic goals for your broken nose you can undergo a rhinoplasty.
Also if the septum of your nose is deviated and have caused some breathing problems the proper surgery for you will be Septorhinoplasty; at this point surgery is done to straighten the nasal deviation, breathing problems, or reshaping the nose.
This surgeries should be done after 6 months of the injury, in that case nasal bones are stable enough in their new wrong positions.
Read More: Open Vs Closed Rhinoplasty
In an open surgery the surgeon uses general anesthesia and then make some internal incisions to get access to nasal bones, then it may be needed to break nasal bones in the term to place them in their better position. Also in some extended damages some grafts like cartilage or skin grafts may be needed.
Read More: Pollybeak Deformity
Based on type of the surgery or procedure the surgeon has done for your broken nose, you may have some splint or packing in your nose that will allow your internal tissue of your nose heal in a better way.
Also some plaster or cast can be used outside the nose, all of these will be removed after a week in the first post-operative visit.
After the surgery you may experience bruising and swelling which can last for one to two weeks, swelling can last longer and it is not an alarm; it's only normal postoperative side effect.
Other considerations will be like considerations after a nose job for example to avoid wearing glasses after a while after surgery or to avoid heavy physical activity like contact sport at least three to six months after the surgery.
Ermateb
Ermateb
Ermateb is a facilitator in the medical tourism industry. One of the important goals of this company is to provide the best medical services with the highest quality. In this Group, we consider the commitment and responsibility for the welfare and comfort of patients as a turning point to provide the best services in the field of medical tourism, and we are committed to this covenant.
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