You’ll probably go home the same day, though you'll need someone to drive you. You should be able to eat your regular diet the day of surgery or the next day.To lessen bleeding, your doctor will probably ask you to avoid these things in the first few days after your operation:Blowing your noseLifting anything heavyBending over so far that your head goes below your waistSome bleeding from your nose is expected shortly after the operation. But call your doctor if you bleed a lot. They can do a procedure to seal blood vessels in your sinuses to stop blood loss. Complications from nasal polyp surgery are rare, deSilva says. They include injury to your eyeball or brain, and permanent changes to your sense of smell. Make sure you understand the risks before you choose surgery.Black describes the surgery as “pretty easy.”You can expect to return to your normal routine within a week, deSilva says. “I went to work about 4 or 5 days after surgery,” Black says.However, it takes about a month to fully heal, deSilva says. Expect to see your doctor several times to remove debris and keep your airways open during this time.Even when you have successful surgery, nasal polyps tend to grow back. A small but long-term study found that, by 12 years after having nasal polyp surgery, almost 80% of people had gotten polyps again. More than 36% of those people had to have another operation.To get good results, follow your doctor’s orders and stick to your treatment plan after surgery. This can help you avoid or delay another operation. Your post-surgery treatment plan may include medication.“We follow our patients closely to make sure they don’t return,” deSilva says. Black says he uses a nasal saline rinse and a mild steroid nasal spray two times every day. He also gets allergy shots to treat his hay fever.If he feels a coming on, he calls deSilva’s office and is prescribed a round of to “knock it out quickly so it doesn’t take hold,” he says.Your doctor may also prescribe injectable biologic drugs to shrink polyps or prevent them from forming again. Biologics can help you avoid many courses of steroid pills, deSilva says.Bruce Black’s Words of WisdomBlack’s advice to others with polyps is to find a sinus doctor you trust. “I had one surgeon who didn’t do a good job at all,” he says.His sixth surgery was in 2013. He was able to avoid another one for 8 years by sticking with his nasal care routine.Black admits that he didn’t take good care of his condition after his first few surgeries. “Now, I do the best I can to keep my sinuses clean,” he says. Still, he doesn’t think his most recent operation will be his last. “Polyps just seems to naturally grow in my sinus cavities,” he says.But for now, Black says, he feels good. He can even smell and taste his favorite foods again -- something he missed for several years.SourcesUpdate HistoryReviewer BioSharePrintPhoto Credit: BreBa / Getty ImagesSOURCES:Bruce Black, nasal polyp surgery patient, Harrod,erH OH.Johns Hopkins Medicine: “Nasal Polyps.”Brad deSilva, MD, otolaryngologist, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus.Clinical and Translational Allergy: Twelve-year follow-up study after endoscopic sinus surgery in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis.”Nuffield Health: "Nasal polypectomy."SharePrintMore on Allergies Recommended FEATURED Top doctors in , Find more top doctors on Search Related LinksPoliciesAboutFor Advertisers © 2005 - 2025 WebMD LLC, an company. All rights reserved. WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. , While surgery is one option to treat nasal polyps, they can come back. Here's how surgery for nasal polyps works, plus recovery, cost, and outlook., A treatment known as aspirin desensitization might help people with nasal polyps and asthma who react badly to aspirin. An allergy specialist oversees the treatment. The treatment involves taking a little more aspirin bit by bit to help the body get used to taking aspirin. Surgery to remove the polyps might come before aspirin desensitization..