Bureen's Lip Lift

This before picture was taken November 15, 2000 in Gatlinburg Tennessee on a trip we took for my husband's birthday. I was 39 (I turned 40 on February 14, 2001). I didn't wear lipstick too often because it drew attention to my very thin top lip.

I actually lost a little wedge of my lip to skin cancer when I was 23 (you can see a skin graft on the right side over my lip if you look really close), and this made me even more conscious of my thin lip.

On Thursday June 14, 2001, I got my liplift at the office of Dr. Marc Salzman. The procedure took about 30 minutes. I was placed in the supine position and injected with local anesthetic in the area of the upper lip. A towel was placed over my eyes, so I didn't see anything, felt nothing, and heard a little bit! A strip of skin was removed from above my lip and around the corners and the lip was then reattached creating more lip area. As you can see in my picture, I had a rather "long lip" anyway so there was plenty of room to work with.

6-19-01 - I got my stitches out today. Janet said it was healing very well. I go back on July 3, 2001, for my "formal" after picture. There's a little itchiness and redness which she tells me is normal and will go away soon .

6-30-01 - The website after pics!!! Still some numbness, but that will simply take time to go away. You can see the skin graft scar (from my early twenties) in the close up. When that surgery was done, it kind of pulled my lip over some, and I think Dr. Salzman did a very good job of working around that. One thing is sure from this photo session though - I need eye lid surgery! My eye is weighted down in every single shot.

THE INCISION Well, I wasn't smiling, and Dr. Salzman did a MUCH better job of drawing, but... you get the picture. He drew a "new lipline" with a surgical pen and showed it to me for approval. This was where he made one of the incisions. The other was, of course, at my lipline. The two edges were simply sewn together. The resulting "scar" after healing is simply part of my lipline. Simple, huh?

Had my official "after picture" taken at Dr. Salzman's office yesterday, and he was VERY pleased with my healing and my look. He says this works very well with my facial tone and hair color and that I scar well (whatever that means, but it sounds good).

October 5, 2001: I've had a lot of requests for bare-skin pics (no make-up!). This is one of those close-ups that shows every little pore and blemish. You can really see the skin graft under my nose (my right side) in the picture. This is where I had a wedge of lip removed in surgery many years ago. Notice how I don't have that nice "line" under my right side. (If somebody knows the medical term - email me) Hopefully that can be corrected with filler some day. Probably why this little scar does not bother me - I've lived with worse. I also had two teeth pulled five hours prior to this picture. I have orthodontia and needed them out so that my front six teeth to move back and close my open bite. Then I'll be happy to "show them teeth off".

BOTTOM LINE as far as the scar goes: I really didn't notice it or pay attention to it. I got a lot of lovely and supportive emails, but so many people asked me if there was much of a scar that I got to looking in the mirror and analyzing it. (We are our own worst critics, aren't we?) It will fade away in time. However, if the scar scares you (remember it's virtually invisible with make-up) then don't get the procedure. It's not for everybody. You have to consider your priorities. In my case, the trade off was well worth it. I'll also be getting an implant (I'm leaning toward Softform) to give them more plump. I might even get fat transfer at a later date. I LOVE HAVING LIPS!

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Email: lipliftlady@lycos.com