Can the loose skin caused by the prolonged swelling of her face?
Answer Hello RJ, It would be highly unlikely for swelling after a rhinoplasty procedure to cause permanent “loosening” or “stretching” of facial skin. The amount of swelling necessary to do so would be much more than is seen after a typical rhinoplasty surgery. Even with large amounts of swelling present the swelling would need to progressively increase over time in order to result in permanent changes to the skin (this is due to the elastic nature of skin and is a principle that is utilized when we use “tissue expanders” to stretch skin). Prolonged swelling of the face after rhinoplasty surgery is not common – the nose can remain swollen that long but the face does not. I have not seen this or heard of this from other surgeons. Not to say that this didn’t occur with your sister but that degree of swelling would not be expected unless large osteotomies (fracturing of the nasal bones on the side) or cheek implants were also done. It sounds like her surgeon used cartilage from the nasal
