Henry Barber, MD

I've always been self-conscious about my thin lips. I always use lip liner/lip stain to outline my lips to make them look bigger. I finally got the money and the motivation to have cosmetic surgery, and after browsing through reviews on RealSelf, I decided to go with PermaLip lip implants. They gave me the option of going under anesthesia or getting local numbing injections. To save money I went with the numbing injections. I could barely feel the needle. Once they started the actual procedure I couldn't feel anything. There were a few moments where I did feel some sharp pain, but when I told the doctor he immediately gave me more numbing stuff and I couldn't feel it. I jokingly told the nurse I wanted to do it again after they were done, because it honestly was so relaxing (the anxiety and pain medicine they prescribed helped I'm sure). I am currently 4 days into the healing process. My lips were super swollen the first two days. I'm talking Scarlett Johanssen having an allergic reaction kind of swollen. And I still can't really eat solid food. Talking, smiling, and drinking are kind of a struggle as well. I was told all of that will go away within a week of the procedure. Now my lips look awesome. I'm kind of sad because I know the swelling will continue to go down. But the shape is perfect and they look so much better, even though it's a subtle change. Updated on 6 Apr 2015: I'm glad I did it and had a great experience overall. However, I am a little disappointed with the results because I feel like they could be bigger. I miss how they looked about a week after I got them done when they were still swollen. I'm definitely a lot less self-conscious about my lips now. The change is very subtle so most people don't notice unless I tell them. I got lots of compliments on them, especially the first few weeks. It took about 3 weeks for the swelling to go down completely. It took a little more than a week for me to be able to eat and talk normally. After about a month it feels completely normal. You can feel the implant in there but it kinda becomes a part of you. Updated on 11 Aug 2020: There has been a huge reduction in size over the years so I really can’t see a huge difference. The implants have shifted. I believe my mouth was already crooked so it caused the implants to shift further, which now has made my mouth very crooked. I am consulting with Dr. Barber to have them removed and possibly have a lip lift or fat transfer. Will update