“Totally worth it!”

I went with a girlfriend and we both are so happy with our doctor and results. Here is my experience:

My friend initially said she was going to do this, and I said "NO!!!! Don't do it!" I was apprehensive as year ago, I had gone to a well-respected San Diego plastic surgeon for a lip injection, which took him 10 minutes and cost me $500, only for the upper lip. He shot me with Novocain, first, and I walked out with a huge duck lip....but worse, the shots caused my upper lip to bruise in a very dark circular pattern just above the lip. I looked like a little Hitler Duck. No amount of makeup will cover a bruise like this. For two weeks, I walked around with my friends giving me the hail Hitler sign. I laughed about it and joked with them, which is the only way to deal with such a situation. (By the way, you may as well be honest with your friends before you do something like this...they may be the support you need if something goes wrong, and there's no point in trying to ignore the elephant in the room, afterwards) Anyway, after two weeks, the injection bubbled at the bottom of my lip, and went away. I never experienced the "pretty part" of the injection. My doctor offered to do it for me again for free, but I declined, as the first experience was so bad I wouldn't even do it for free.

(Now I get to my point). So, several weeks ago, I joined one of my friends as she went to the {edited, registered users see provider name above} in Mission Valley. I tried to beg her out of it, but she didn't listen. The doctor (not a plastic surgeon, but a doctor, nonetheless) allowed me to stay in the room as she had her injections. He charges only $379 per tube, and if you don't use it all, you can come back and use it later!!! He used a topical cream to numb the lips, as opposed to shoving a syringe of Novocain into her lip. He spend an HOUR perfecting her lips! A whole HOUR....mind you, the expensive and well-known plastic surgeon I used has spent 10 minutes, and botched the job!

Her lips were perfection! She and I asked tons of questions of the doctor, as we had researched the Internet and seen the comments on this page. We asked him if he'd ever inject someone's eye baggage, and he said NEVER! Not even for all the money he could collect....he knows it is such a sensitive area that serious bruising is almost impossible to avoid. She offered to pay for another syringe and have him shoot it in the deep crease between her eyebrows and he said "NO!".

The experience was so wonderful for her that I made an appointment for the following week. I had him do my lips (he spent an HOUR on them). They looked so wonderful that my work friends didn't know I had it done several days later until I told them....then, on closer examination, they couldn't believe how great my lips looked. Because I can't take time off of work, I was very nervous. I only had him to 3/4 of the syringe. The following week, I went in for a "touch up" using the rest of the syringe, and my girlfriend made an appointment for that same day to increase her lips, as well.

We liked that, while it would cost him another appointment, he didn't pressure us into shooting the whole syringe the first time. I appreciated that he spent so long working on us, when my plastic surgeon wouldn't spare more than 10 minutes, as he had an assembly line going that day.

My friend didn't want me to tell you where we got the procedure done, because we don't want to have him booked months in advance, and not be able to get in anymore. But he's such a great doctor (works in the same place with his wife, who does whitens teeth) that I want him to have success for being so honest, caring and fair! I highly recommend him, and you can write to me if you want more information.

Unlike some people who post on blogs, I am not being paid to write this, and I will make no money off my recommendation. I am just someone who has experienced both the bad and the exceptionally great, and wanted to let you know how happy I am with the right doctor.

Updated on Aug 30, 2008:

Trying again to upload photos.  Here are the before pics, and immediately after.  You can see some redness in the after, but only because I was still in the chair.  The redness goes away after 10 minutes, and a little makeup applied. 

Lips & NL Before

Lips & NL immediately after