Bull horn lip lift actual do's and don'ts?

Question

Hey there, just a quick question. What is the actual regime for taking care of (not messing up) a bullhorn lip-lift? I had combined procedures on a friday and when I woke up from anaesthesia i was elated, taking selfies, smiling and talking to my mom, now i notice one side of my lips is a bit higher than the other(when I came out of surgery I thought I looked gorgeous), and i am really worried that i over worked the stitching and some how screwed up, ANY HELP IS HIGHLY APPRECIATED.

Farhad Rafizadeh, MD · Answer

Lip lift is one of my favorite procedures and I do a lot of them. I have used different ways to care after the surgery over the years. Presently I cover the stitches with paper tapes called Steri-strips and a dry gauze. I allow the patients to take a shower 24 hours later. The tapes usually stay on, if they were to fall off I ask the patients to apply a little Bacitracin ointment. I tell them to see me 5 days after the surgery for suture removal. I usually apply more tape after the stitches are removed. So when they take the shower on the day we remove the stitches, I ask them not to  apply any ointment. The great majority of patients heal well with this regimen. If there is any evidence of scaring, I would inject with a steroid.

Jeffrey Epstein, MD, FACS · Answer

Far too early to assess symmetry with the upper lip lift.  I recommend you give things at least 6 weeks, to allow for resolution of swelling.  I most recently lectured at the Global Aesthetics Conference in Miami Beach last week, giving a talk on the upper lip lift, in which I explained that the procedure allows for the making more even any asymmetries of the upper lip.

Robert K. Sigal, MD · Answer

First, take a deep breath.  It's really hard to hurt a lip lift after surgery, and even if you do, almost anything can be corrected easily.  From when my (now retired) partner Dr. Austin first described the lip lift in 1986 to this past October in Boston when we gave our course on this procedure, the lip lift has always been described as a "skin excision."  We've never advocated a lot of lip undermining.  If your surgeon did the lift as described, there should be very little "dead space" or open area under the scar to fill with blood (a hematoma).  A hematoma is about the only bad thing that could happen to you other than the stitches breaking prematurely.  And it's really hard to do that!Call your surgeon and seek his/her counsel if you are concerned, but the overwhelming odds are that you going to be fine.

Bull horn lip lift actual do's and don'ts?

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Bull horn lip lift actual do's and don'ts?

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Recommended reading

Everything you need to know about Lip Lift

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.