Lip Augmentation Recovery: What to Expect?

We will cover surgery recovery involving anesthesia first, then move on to injectables...

Initial Recovery: Anesthesia

After you are awakened from your lip surgery and brought into the recovery room, a nurse will monitor your vital signs until you are released. Depending on the individual, this may take 2 hours or more. Your lips will feel quite tender and you may feel confused as the anesthesia wears off. If you feel any discomfort, you may want to ask for a pain reliever, which you may have been asked to bring with you. You may also feel emotional or upset, which are common reactions to anesthesia. You may experience rigors or shivering, which are usually a side effect of the medications you've received, especially the vascoconstrictor epinephrine, and the cold saline that has been introduced into your system over the last few hours. Operating rooms are usually kept quite chilly, which also does not help matters. The recovery nurse usually has wrapped you in a warm blanket, but if not, request one. It certainly makes things more tolerable. Some recovery rooms also have heating lamps to help warm you up.

Some patients feel nothing different than waking up from a good night's rest. If you had general anesthesia, you may feel a little nauseous or some pain. The medications prescribed by your surgeon should alleviate both. However, if you believe your pain to be out of the ordinary once you get home, call your surgeon or the on-call staff immediately. You will be driven home by your spouse, significant other or friend as you will be unable to do so.

Incision Care

Try to keep your incisions and suture lines clean. Your surgeon will give you specific care instructions at your preoperative appointment or send them home with you on surgery day. It is best to know the drill ahead of time so you can inform your caregiver in advance. Take care to keep cream, lotions or any topicals out of the incision unless you are specifically instructed otherwise. These can cause inflammation. Please pay attention to the incision lines and notice if there is any type of oozing or weeping. And for goodness sake, don't pick at or touch them with your fingers!

Signs of Infections

Any type of discharge that has an odor or is green, white or yellow in color should be reported to your surgeon immediately as it could be a sign of infection. Usually lip implants must be taken out if this happens, although I have heard of isolated cases where the infection was conquered with strong dose of antibiotics. However, porous or tubular implants really have a heck of a time letting go of the intrusive bacteria. Please print out our What to Look For In Case of Complication Sheet.

Monitor Your Temperature

Take your temperature regularly. An elevated temperature could mean an infection. Take those antibiotics on time, and don't forget to use a back-up form of birth control if you are on The Pill because some antibiotics can interfere with it.

Soreness and Pain Factor

Pain tolerance depends on the individual, but expect that your lips will feel tender, stiff and sore for a few days. This will subside. Be sure to take your prescribed medications and follow the precise instructions provided to you by your surgeon. Common pain medications include Vicodin, Vicodin ES and Percocet. There is no reason to suffer, so please take your medications regularly instead of waiting to feel pain. The less pain you have, the better your experience and the faster you will make a full recovery.

Swelling (Edema)

As with all surgeries, swelling will be an issue. Swelling is a normal reaction to an injury and is categorized as a natural anti-inflammatory action. Fluids high in white blood cells and hemoglobin will accumulate at the treatment site to treat the injury. Swelling is not necessarily a bad thing, but severe swelling can be a problem. You may be swollen for up to a month and a half; however, residual swelling after 2 weeks is usually nominal and only noticed by you.

Treatment for prolonged edema includes increasing your fluid intake (preferably water), a normal to low sodium intake, movement (such as light walking) and, in some cases, prescription prednisone. Diuretics, including natural diuretics, are not advised and should be avoided unless specifically instructed by your surgeon.

Bruising

Bruises may or may not be present after your surgery. This depends entirely on the patient, the technique and the effectiveness of the epinephrine. You can ask your surgeon about Arnica Montana, bromelain or vitamin A and C to reduce swelling and discolorations and improve healing. Warm, gentle compresses starting several days post-op can assist in bruise removal by dilating the superficial blood vessels to help remove blood and damaged tissue from the treatment area.

Permanent bruising is a risk but very rare. If you have discolorations after several months post-op, you may wish to seek Intense Pulsed Light treatments. These treatments target the hemoglobin, the iron-containing respiratory pigment of red blood cells that functions primarily in the transport of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues of the body. In IPL, a highly advanced computer regulates the light pulse to a specific wavelength range, which in turn heats the visible, targeted blood vessel(s), damaging or destroying the targeted lesion while sparing the surrounding healthy or normal tissue. The penetration depth and degree of heat is highly controlled so that most complications contributed to these specific factors are not an issue with pulsed light therapy.

Eating & Drinking After Lip Augmentation

As you can imagine, eating is quite the task after lip surgery. Your lips may be numb (mine were) and unable to feel heat, and as a result you could damage the tissues. Plus you can't really feel the pressure of the food, so you tend to drool, spill and generally look like a baby when you eat. It is humorous to your significant other but not, I assure you, to you.

Try eating only soft foods your first day after surgery: warm (not hot) soups, protein and supplement shakes (like Ultramet and Myoplex which aren't primarily made of sugar, although check for vitamin E), Jell-O, pudding, pasta, oatmeal, etc. Chomping into a thick burger is not recommended. Eating with a small, silicone rubber-coated baby spoon is recommended.

You probably won't be able to drink from a straw either. It's actually difficult to pucker when your lips are sore. It was the last thing I wanted to do. I used a water bottle with a pop top that lets you squirt a stream of water into your mouth.

Emotions

If you get emotional due to the anesthesia, medications, pain in general or just because you feel like it, crying hurts. You stretch your lips when you cry and the orbicularis oris tends to quiver and spasm so the pain starts all over again and makes you hurt even more. It's a vicious cycle. Please read our Postoperative Depression section for ideas on dealing with your emotions.

Activity

You will be instructed not to exercise or engage in strenuous activities for at least 2 to 3 weeks. Raising your blood pressure can cause bleeding and increased swelling, and you don't want that. Bending over is not advised for at least the first week. Take your time to give yourself the best healing environment possible.

Please print out our
Complication Symptoms and Preparation Info Sheet

Numbness, Odd Sensations and Loss of Sensitivity

You may experience some loss of sensation in the lips. This is usually caused by the swelling and from the dissection and implantation trauma cutting off your nerves' ability to transmit pain or touch sensations. This usually will subside within a few weeks, but be aware that in rare cases loss of sensation may be permanent.

There may be stiffness, burning, numbness, prickling sensations, etc. Your lips may turn off-color, such as purplish or blanched (white or pale). This is all normal.

Suture Removal

You will more than likely have your stitches removed in 7 to 10 days. Suture removal may be painful, especially if the wound edges are nicked with the surgical scissors. It is generally a quick process and nothing to worry about, although know that there may be some discomfort associated with the removal process.

Peeling, Dry Lips

You will also notice that your lips may peel. Don't pick at the skin or you will hate yourself when it bleeds. Besides, you shouldn't be touching your lips with your fingers or any object to begin with. If you need to touch your lips to apply ointments or moisturizers, do so with a clean, cotton swab every time.

Your lips are peeling because of the swelling, which has stretched your tissues. As it subsides your skin will remain loose and dry and will flake off. I have pulled off several lip-shaped sheets of skin after my surgeries. I couldn't help myself, so do as I say, not as I do! Leave your lips alone!

Keep your lips well moisturized, drink a lot of water, and try not to lick them. A good bet is a product called Aquaphor by Eucerin. It is the only product that has healed my peeling lips. I developed chronic dry lips after moving to a very dry climate and having lip implants. My lips were really bad off, and Aquaphor saved them in less than 3 weeks.

In The Weeks Ahead

In the weeks ahead you will notice changes in your lips' size, shape and color. This is normal. Your body is in the process of healing and becoming accustomed to the implants. Do not do too much too soon. If you need dental work, do it a month or so before surgery or wait until you are healed. If not, you'd better save up for an additional surgery. Rough housing the lips and having bacteria exposed to the implant pocket via the incisions is a bad idea. I speak from experience.

Disappointment with Lip Augmentation

Please realize that the swelling will be considerable at first and you may even feel it has gone down too much. If you start to think this way it is because you have become accustomed to the size of your lips during their swollen stage. This is why it is important to take photos. Compare before-and-after photos for a reality check before passing judgment. This way you will realize just how wonderful your new pout looks!

Injectables

If you have gone the injectable route, you will be sore, swollen and possibly bruised. The swelling and soreness will go away eventually, unless you have an inflammation or reaction to the product. Other than that, the recovery is usually short. You are usually iced up beforehand and sent home with an icepack, rocket pop or other type of plastic enclosed Popsicle. They are just the thing to ice your lips with. Buy a case if you are a frequent flyer for temporary injectables. Just make sure that they are clean before placing them on your lips.

As I said, with injectables there is the chance of an inflammatory response. But for pain, you should be able to get away with taking Tylenol for the first two days. They may be more sensitive than usual, so it's best not to apply lipstick or kiss anyone for the first 2 days after surgery.

For permanent injectables or injectables that rely on capsule formation, patience is a virtue. Artecoll will provide immediate augmentation, but will subside as the collagen is resorbed. Your augmentation will appear again later on, although not as much as after the initial injection. Your own collagen will form around the polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microspheres to give you augmentation and definition in your lip borders.

For silicone, the augmentation will be apparent at first unless your doctor is very conservative. Swelling will be apparent. The augmentation depends on a low grade inflammation process that triggers macrophage activity, which in turn triggers fibrous capsules to form around the silicone. The body forms a medium to thick capsule of tissue around the silicone to essentially wall it off from the rest of the body. Depending on your body's reaction, you may form a mild to moderate amount of tissue. In the event of a severe reaction, a granuloma may form.

In any event, and with any injectable, there is the possibility that you may need what is affectionately referred to as a “touch up”. This happens when the injector was too conservative and didn't inject enough product. A touch up means more pain, more money and more time out of your day, but I'd much rather get a touch up than need a removal procedure! It is generally safer to underinject than to overinject.