I just saw of one my many San Diego nose job (rhinoplasty) patients in the office today to take off her cast following nose reshaping 5 days ago. She was doing quite well with minimal bruising and very little swelling despite a full reshaping of the nose. She was pleasantly surprised how little of a recovery was involved with her rhinoplasty procedure. In addition, she was quite happy that her pain levels following the nose job were significantly less than she had envisioned prior to the rhinoplasty. As I told her and all my other San Diego nose job patients, there is a misunderstanding out there about pain levels following a rhinoplasty procedure. Most of my San Diego cosmetic nasal reshaping patients are on low dose narcotic pain medication, such as Vicodin, for about 2-3 days after their rhinoplasty or revision rhinoplasty surgery. In fact, there are many of my San Diego rhinoplasty patients who have recovered without taking any narcotic medication at all! The bottom line is that rhinoplasty patients are typically uncomfortable following nasal reshaping of the nose. However, significant pain requiring narcotic medication is quite uncommon following rhinoplasty performed at The Hilinski Clinic of Facial Plastic Surgery.