Abnormal Smile After Rhinoplasty?

One concern I hear quite often from my rhinoplasty patients relates to smiling during the early recovery process. It is quite normal for many rhinoplasty patients to experience a ‘stiff upper lip’ in the early weeks to months of recovery. This is especially true if I have done a lot of work near the columella region of the nose. The swelling that can develop in this area often times leads to the feeling of having a stiff upper lip where your natural smile is hindered. I recommend you not trying to ‘overcome’ this feeling as it is completely normal. Plus, smiling in this early period of rhinoplasty recovery can sometimes damage the surgical reconstruction that was performed – leading to a suboptimal result as time goes on. Therefore, you will often times hear me telling my rhinoplasty patients to show only a ‘Mona Lisa’ smile – where there is minimal movement and tension on the bottom part of the nose.