Hi Sapphire,
I had open rhinoplasty and alar base reduction and it took me quite a while to visibly recover. A blood vessel exploded in both eyes which took about 6 months to heal and the final yellow bruising cleared up after 9 months – this was quite an extreme case though as I needed quite a lot of work. I was quite sick after surgery (vomiting with a cast on is not fun) but aside from looking a little bruised I felt myself after a few days and went out for drinks after 2 weeks (with a lot of makeup on!)
The first week it’s quite uncomfortable trying to sleep and breathe through your mouth, but I quite quickly got used to it and was managing to sleep for about 3/4 hours at a time, not being able to sleep properly was the main thing for me.
If you’re taking time off work, maybe 1 – 3 weeks depending on the procedure? I saw before and afters for closed rhinoplasty where people were back to normal with minimal bruising after the cast came off.
x