Angel's Artecoll Adventure

Among the wonderful family traits I've inherited one that bothered me most was that I had no upper lip. I mean, I looked at all the models in the magazines and forget Victoria Secrets - even the ones with small lips had more than I had. I always heard about women pumping their lips up with collagen and not knowing any better nor having a computer, I thought this was the answer for me. So I did it. I called and met with a local dermatologist who sucked me right in. He was so good I was back in a week for more. Then a few weeks later, a few weeks after that and so on and so on. And he sucked me in even more by telling me that the more times you get it – the longer it lasts. I thought, “No wonder why the dancers I've met are the only ones that get it. They must have been working to afford it!” Of course it didn't take me long to find out he was nothing more than a liar and a thief.

I decided to pick three plastic surgeons out of the yellow pages and met with all three. The first wanted to do Gore-Tex but told me I wouldn't get my lips as large as I wanted them. The second doctor told me he would pull the inside of my lip out surgically (I think this is a “flap”) and the only catch would be I would have vertical lines from the stitches that would resemble the mouth of a smoker. Needless to say, I ran from his office. The last surgeon told me he had a new product, “Cymetra” that would definitely last longer than collagen so I tried it. My upper lip was huge the 1st day, smaller the second and by the third day it was gone. His response was, “too bad silicone isn't legal in the U.S.” I responded – out of the blue, “What about Canada?” He said he didn't know.

I was at my wits end when I finally got on the internet and started researching the heck out of permanent lip augmentation. I found Marianne's site and read her story and thought, this girl has experience and knows what she's talking about. I emailed her and asked her a gazillion questions and she was kind enough to answer me and give me her opinions.

I read about silicone and fought with it for a long time but decided not to take a chance. There had to be something for me out there. Then I found, quite by mistake, a physician's site in Alabama (of all places). A picture of this women with crackled marks all over her face appeared and then slowly the cracks disappeared and the caption read, “Defy the years with Artecoll”. I read on about the product and I was interested. I contacted the doctor but was told that it wasn't available yet and could he interest me in collagen or something else until it is FDA approved? I think not!!!

I searched around some more and found Canderm.com, distributors of Artecoll in Canada. Hmmm, Canada again – was this an omen?? I contacted one of Canderm's representatives who was very responsive and politely answered all my questions. She even referred me to one of the best plastic surgeons in Canada – Dr. Arie Benchetrit in Montreal. My first trip was April 23, 2001 and over one year later and 5 trips to Canada, I am extremely happy and satisfied with the results.

To date I've had 20 syringes of Artecoll in total, not just in my lips but also under my eyes, underneath my philtrum and in my laugh lines. Yes, a small fortune. Yes, a lot of trips to Canada. But when your sister tells you, “I want big lips too”…. Well, it was all worth it (love ya Susie). xoxo