How Long Does it Take for Alarplasty to Heal?

If you are wondering about alarplasty recovery time, the short answer is that it is one of the quickest recoveries in nose surgery. Alarplasty, also called alar base reduction or nostril reduction surgery, works on the soft tissue at the base of the nose rather than on bone or cartilage, so there is no splint and no packing. The surgery is minor, but the healing has stages: swelling first, then the stitches and wound, then months of scar maturation before the nostrils reach their final shape.

This guide explains alarplasty healing time week by week, what the swelling, stitches and scars do, what you can and cannot do while you heal, and what changes if alarplasty is combined with a rhinoplasty. If you are still deciding whether the operation is right for you, our guides to nostril reduction surgery, flared nostrils and how to make a wide nose smaller cover that side of the question, and our companion article explains whether you will have visible scars after alar base reduction.

How Long Does Alarplasty Take to Heal?

Alarplasty takes about a week for the first stage of healing and up to a year for the last. In practical terms:

• 5 to 7 days: most people are back at desk-based work, with mild swelling and some pinkness around the nostrils.
• 2 to 3 weeks: swelling and any bruising have mostly settled, and the nose looks like itself again to other people.
• 4 to 6 weeks: you are back to full exercise and glasses, and your surgeon reviews the result at 6 weeks.
• 3 to 6 months: the scar is still pink and slightly firm, and the last of the swelling at the nostril base is going down.
• 6 to 12 months: the scar fades to a fine line or becomes barely visible, and the shape is final.

These are typical timings, not guarantees. Healing is slower if you smoke or when alarplasty is combined with other nose surgery.

The reason recovery is quick is the nature of the operation. A 2022 review in Clinics in Plastic Surgery ↗ describes three basic ways of narrowing the alar base: an alar wedge excision in the crease where the nostril meets the cheek, a nostril sill excision inside the nostril, or a combination of the two^[1]. All three remove a small amount of skin and soft tissue and leave the nasal bones and cartilage alone, which is why swelling and discomfort are modest compared with a rhinoplasty.

Alarplasty Healing Timeline: Day by Day and Week by Week

What happens on the day of alarplasty surgery?

Alarplasty takes about an hour. On its own it is usually done under local anaesthetic, with light sedation if you prefer, and you go home within an hour or two with a small dressing and fine dissolvable stitches. If it is combined with other nose surgery you will have TIVA anaesthesia, and a responsible adult needs to take you home and stay with you for the first 24 hours.

Days 1 to 3: what does alarplasty swelling look like?

The nostril base feels tight and slightly numb once the local anaesthetic wears off. Expect a dull ache rather than sharp pain, mild swelling of the nostrils and upper lip, and pink or slightly bruised skin around the incisions. Swelling builds over the first few days and is at its worst around days 3 to 4. Keep your head raised, including at night, and use cold compresses on the cheeks, never directly on the incisions. Paracetamol is usually enough for discomfort.

Days 5 to 7: when can I go back to work after alarplasty?

Most people return to desk work between day 5 and day 7. Swelling is visibly smaller by now, though the nostrils may still look a little rounded or puffy, and pinkness along the incision is normal. A wound check at about one week confirms the incisions are sealing and gives you scar-care advice. If your job is physical or public-facing, a second week off is reasonable. Our guide on how soon you can travel after cosmetic surgery helps if you are coming to London from elsewhere.

Weeks 2 to 6: when does alarplasty swelling go down?

By two weeks most of the swelling and any bruising has settled. You can restart light exercise, begin silicone gel or tape on the scar once the incision has sealed, and start to see the new nostril shape. Glasses stay off until week 4, when you can also return to full exercise. Contact sport and anything that could knock the nose wait until 6 weeks, when your surgeon reviews the shape and scar.

Months 3 to 12: how long does the alarplasty scar take to heal?

Fine swelling at the nostril base can persist for up to 6 months, so the shape keeps refining quietly. The scar is typically pink and slightly firm for the first 3 to 6 months, then softens, flattens and fades over 6 to 12 months. We cover this stage in detail below.

Do Alarplasty Stitches Need to Be Removed?

At Centre for Surgery, alarplasty is closed with fine dissolvable stitches, so there is nothing to have taken out. They soften and disappear on their own over the first couple of weeks, and your wound check at about one week is a chance to see that the incision is healing cleanly.

Some surgeons use stitches that do need removing, usually within the first week, so ask which type is planned. How the wound is closed matters for the result: closing the vestibular floor in two layers is one technique shown to reduce the risk of the nostril rim notching^[2].

How Long Does Alarplasty Swelling Last?

Most of the swelling goes within two to three weeks. What people notice at the end of that time is that the nostrils look balanced from the front, but the nostril base can still feel slightly thick or firm to the touch. That residual swelling takes up to 6 months to disappear.

Residual swelling is also why the result in the first weeks can look slightly different from the final shape: the nostrils can look rounder or puffier than they will eventually. Do not judge the result before about 3 months. If you want to understand how swelling behaves when the rest of the nose is operated on too, our guide to rhinoplasty swelling explains the stages.

How to reduce swelling after alarplasty

• Sleep with your head raised on extra pillows for the first week or two. Our guide on how to sleep after nose surgery has practical tips.
• Use cold compresses on the cheeks in the first few days, never on the incisions.
• Avoid very hot showers, steam and saunas for the first week or two, and avoid alcohol for the first week.

Is Alarplasty Painful?

Alarplasty is not usually very painful. Most people describe a dull ache or tightness at the nostril base, worst in the first 48 hours and easing quickly after that, and paracetamol is generally enough. A stronger painkiller can be prescribed if you need one. With no bone work, no splint and no packing, the blocked, pressured feeling that follows rhinoplasty does not usually happen. If you are comparing the two, our guide to whether rhinoplasty is painful explains the difference.

Alarplasty Scars: How Long Do They Take to Heal?

The alarplasty scar is the part of recovery that takes longest, and it is also the part patients worry about most. Where it sits depends on the technique. An alar wedge excision leaves a fine scar in the natural crease where the nostril meets the cheek, while a nostril sill excision is made inside the nostril and leaves no external scar at all.

Published results are reassuring. In a 2007 case series of 60 patients in Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery ↗, combining an external alar wedge with an internal sill excision gave effective narrowing of the nasal base, the external scar healed inconspicuously in the depth of the alar-facial crease, and no keloid scars formed during follow-up of 1 to 12 years^[3].

The scar changes over time, and it can look worse before it looks better. In a 2024 study of 20 patients in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery ↗, scar assessment scores at 3 months showed raised, thickened scarring, but by 12 months the scarring was insignificant and had improved markedly^[4]. That matches what we tell patients: a pink, slightly firm line at 3 months is a normal stage and not a sign that something has gone wrong.

What affects how an alarplasty scar heals?

• Technique and where the incision sits. Incisions placed precisely within the natural alar-facial groove and closed in layers tend to scar more finely, and a modified technique in a 2024 comparison of 75 patients against 67 treated conventionally ↗ produced better scar scores and more natural results^[5].
• Skin type. Darker skin and a personal or family tendency to keloid or thickened scars raise the risk of a more visible scar, which is why it is discussed at your consultation. Our guide to ethnic rhinoplasty covers how surgeons plan for different skin types.
• Smoking and nicotine. These narrow the blood vessels that feed the healing skin.

What Can You Do and Not Do After Alarplasty?

Can I blow my nose after alarplasty?

Not for 2 weeks. Blowing raises pressure in the nose and can disturb the healing incision. If you need to clear your nose, dab gently or sniff, and sneeze with your mouth open.

When can I wear glasses after alarplasty?

Glasses should stay off your nose for 4 weeks, because they rest on a nose whose surrounding skin is still healing. Contact lenses are fine, so arrange them before surgery if you normally wear glasses. If you cannot manage without them, ask your surgeon how to take the weight off the nose. Our guide on wearing glasses after rhinoplasty explains the options.

When can I exercise after alarplasty?

Short, gentle walks are fine early on. Light exercise can restart from week 2, full exercise from 4 weeks, and anything that risks a knock to the nose, such as contact sport or ball games, should wait until 6 weeks.

When can I wear makeup after alarplasty?

Keep makeup, creams and skincare off the incisions until they have sealed and your surgeon has agreed at your one-week check. Never pick at scabs or crusts.

How to Speed Up Alarplasty Healing

Stop smoking, vaping and nicotine

This is the single most important step. We ask you to stop 4 weeks before and stay stopped for 4 weeks after surgery, because nicotine narrows the vessels feeding the healing alar skin. A 2012 systematic review and meta-analysis in Archives of Surgery ↗, which pooled 140 cohort studies and 479,150 patients, found that smokers had significantly more healing problems than non-smokers, including about twice the odds of delayed healing or wound separation and nearly twice the odds of surgical site infection^[6]. On a facial scar that you will see every day, that matters.

Protect the scar from the sun

Use SPF 30 or higher on the scar every day for at least the first year. A fresh scar is more prone to pigmentation, and sun is the easiest trigger to avoid.

Consider silicone gel or tape

From around week 2, once the incision has sealed, your surgeon may advise silicone gel or tape. A 2020 meta-analysis of six randomised trials in International Wound Journal ↗ found that topical silicone gel significantly reduced scar pigmentation and height and improved pliability after surgery compared with placebo or no treatment^[7]. The trials were small, and silicone does not remove a scar, but it is a low-risk way to help it settle.

Follow your pre-operative instructions

Stopping aspirin, ibuprofen and supplements such as fish oil and vitamin E two weeks before surgery lowers the chance of bruising. Our guide to preparing for cosmetic surgery lists what to stop and when.

Alarplasty With Rhinoplasty: How Does Recovery Change?

Alarplasty is often combined with tip rhinoplasty or full rhinoplasty so that the whole lower nose is refined in one operation. In that case the healing follows the larger operation, not the smaller one. You can expect to be under TIVA, a splint on the nose for the first week, and swelling that continues to refine over many months, particularly at the tip. Desk work usually returns at 7 to 10 days rather than 5 to 7, and the nose can take up to a year to settle fully.

You recover once rather than twice. Our rhinoplasty recovery and aftercare guide sets out the week-by-week timeline for the combined operation. If breathing is also a concern, a septoplasty can be added in the same sitting, because alarplasty itself does not change the internal airway.

Alarplasty Before and After: When Do You See the Final Result?

You see a clear improvement at about a week, most of the change within the first month and the final result by about 6 months. The change is subtle by design. Alarplasty narrows the nostrils without altering the bridge, tip or profile, so most people describe the nose as looking more balanced rather than different. The photographs below show alar base reduction results from the base view at Centre for Surgery; you can also see more in our nose surgery before and after photos.

Healing and expectations go together. Surgery on the alar base removes tissue that cannot be put back, and one 2024 comparison of techniques describes the manoeuvres as nearly irreversible^[5]. That is why a conservative plan is wise, and why our guide on whether your rhinoplasty expectations are realistic is worth reading before you book.

When to Call Your Surgeon: Signs Healing Is Not Going to Plan

Most alarplasty healing is uneventful, but contact us promptly if you notice any of the following:

• Heavy or persistent bleeding from the nostril or incision.
• A temperature above 38°C.
• Pain that your prescribed medication does not control.
• Increasing redness, heat, swelling or discharge at an incision, which can suggest infection.
• A wound that opens or looks as if it is separating.

Later problems are less urgent but worth raising at your 6-week review, such as a notched or uneven nostril rim, or a scar that is raised, widening or itchy. Our guide on what happens if you are not happy with your results explains how we approach them. A nostril rim that pulls upwards is a separate problem, covered in our guide to alar rim retraction, and revision rhinoplasty exists for the small number of cases that need further surgery.

What Happens at an Alarplasty Consultation in London?

At your consultation at our CQC-regulated hospital on Baker Street, the GMC-registered surgeon who assesses you is the surgeon who operates. They measure your nostril width against your facial proportions, choose between an alar wedge excision, a nostril sill excision or both, assess your skin type and scarring risk, and explain the recovery in the detail covered here. You leave with a written plan and itemised quote, and we recommend a two-week cooling-off period from when consent is signed. Costs are confirmed at consultation, and finance options are available subject to status.

After surgery you have a direct number for your surgeon for the first 24 hours, our nursing team stays in contact over the first two weeks, and you are seen at one week and again at six weeks. You can read more about Centre for Surgery or browse our cosmetic surgery FAQs. If one nostril looks bigger than the other, see why that happens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Alarplasty Recovery in London

A consultation covers your nostril shape, the right technique for you and exactly what the weeks after surgery will look like. Find out more about alar base reduction at Centre for Surgery.

Phone: 020 7993 4849 | Address: 95–97 Baker Street, Marylebone, London W1U 6RN
Contact us to schedule a consultation

References

1. Cerkes N. Alar base reduction: nuances and techniques. Clinics in Plastic Surgery 2022;49(1):161–178 (published online 2021). doi:10.1016/j.cps.2021.08.007 ↗
2. Ismail AS. Nasal base narrowing: the alar flap advancement technique. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery 2011;144(1):48–52. doi:10.1177/0194599810390891 ↗
3. Foda HMT. Nasal base narrowing: the combined alar base excision technique. Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery 2007;9(1):30–34. doi:10.1001/archfaci.9.1.30 ↗
4. Yang J, Dai CC, Yu BF. Three-part analysis for designing nasal alar reduction surgery in Asian patients. Journal of Craniofacial Surgery 2025;36(3):952–955 (published online 2024). doi:10.1097/SCS.0000000000010701 ↗
5. Kamburoglu HO. A new alar base reduction technique in rhinoplasty. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2025;49(4):1074–1079 (published online 2024). doi:10.1007/s00266-024-04248-y ↗
6. Sørensen LT. Wound healing and infection in surgery: the clinical impact of smoking and smoking cessation. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of Surgery 2012;147(4):373–383. doi:10.1001/archsurg.2012.5 ↗
7. Wang F, Li X, Wang X, Jiang X. Efficacy of topical silicone gel in scar management: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. International Wound Journal 2020;17(3):765–773. doi:10.1111/iwj.13337 ↗