Why Does Dr. Lamperti Prefer to Avoid Packing after rhinoplasty?

Dr. Lamperti discusses his reasoning behind avoiding the use of nasal packing whenever possible after nasal surgery.

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Video transcript:

"Hello my name is Dr. Thomas Lamperti and I'm double board-certified Facial Plastic Surgeon in the Seattle area. Often patients wonder when coming to me regarding improving their nasal shape or function or both they are often concerned about getting their nose packed after surgery. Either they, or they know family members who've had surgery before and they just fear having their nose stuffed with anything, really, after surgery. They recall the discomfort that people have told them about and so forth. Typically what they're recalling or have heard about is having strip gauze put in their nose -- fine, half inch long fabric essentially that is stuffed in the nose after surgery. This is an older technique that isn't used much anymore. It has generally been phased out thankfully. It is very uncomfortable having it removed. I myself have had this done when I was little and broke my nose. After my nose was reset they actually packed my nose with this and I can tell you from experience that it is not very pleasant.

>>So do you put anything in the nose after surgery?

So certainly we do try to avoid putting anything in the nose. Sometimes with my patients I will put splints inside the nose. It is not really packing -- you can still breath through your nose. Certainly not as well as you would normally because of the reactive swelling on the inside from the surgery itself. But the splints are generally thin silicone or a type of plastic just laid inside by the septum itself to prevent scar bands, to help with the healing. It really depends on a case-by-case basis, but especially on a case where the septum was operated upon. So on a very bad septal deviation we'll have a more likelihood of perhaps needing a splint of some sort. The splints aren't permanent--they're taken out in about a week or so. And that part is certainly a lot more tolerable than the packing that used to be used."