50 Years Old Upper Lip Lift - Baltimore, MD

I have always been bothered by my excessively long upper lip. As I got older it seemed to get even longer. I was developing "smokers" vertical lip lines as well and I don't even smoke. I think they were caused by my skin length. I tried lip filler but all it did was make my lip project outward, not up. I came across a website talking about my problem and realized I needed a lip lift to get my desired result. I spent 2 months researching doctors that perform this type of surgery. Lots of P.S will say they will do it, but it's important to find a surgeon that does a lot of them and specializes in the procedure. It is in the center of your face after all, and since that is where our eyes naturally go, watching someone's mouth as they talk, you don't want a botched job done and end up with a terrible result. I narrowed it down to 2 surgeons, Dr. Hayworth and Dr. Rodriguez. Dr. Hayworth does a muscle hemming technique (muscle is not cut but folded) that sounded superior to skin only lip lift, but after finding a patient blog and many of his patients saying they couldn't fully move their upper lip properly even 9 months after surgery, I decided I didn't want to take that risk. I chose Dr. Rodriguez because he uses skin only and deep suturing technique which I thought was better for me. The deep suturing, which is done under nose, keeps lip lift in proper position and has better long term lift result than having all tension at incision line under lip. I sent in pics t his office, then had my phone consult. I was confident I picked the right doctor and booked my surgery. I flew out to Baltimore, M.D on a Thursday, had my consult later that day, Surgery on Friday, and flew home on Saturday. Dr. R measured my skin at 2.4 cm, which he agreed was excessively long and out of proportion. He said ideal measurement is 1.1, but with my face proportion, felt I would be good with a 1.3-1.5. He would determine during surgery. I told him I wanted him to be as aggressive as possible since I did not want to fly out for a revision. I find most reviews on lip lifts the doctors are too conservative and patients usually always go back for more skin removed. If too much is taken off, you can end up with tension lines so I know there is a fine line between too much taken off and not enough. I ended up with 1.2. c.m. I am 7 months out of surgery and my measurement is now 1.4, which is perfect for my face. I have some tooth show when in repose and overall it gives me a more youthful appearance. Having a touch of filler added has also completely removed my vertical lip lines. Part of them seemed to be gone after surgery (from swelling maybe) and after filler I don't see any of them.
I am very happy with my results but there are some things to know for after surgery. I had a crazy amount of swelling, especially in the tip of my nose and nostrils. It gave me a piggy face for about 4 months. The reviews that say they were back to work in 2 weeks and no one knew they had surgery are either the quickest healing people on the planet or they are fabricating their recovery. My nostrils took on a different shap, which you can see from my pics, and they were like that for about 4 months. The swelling in tip of nose lasted about 3 months, with it being the worst for the first 2 months. I had facial swelling in different areas of my cheek area and lower face for about 4 -5 weeks. My upper lip felt extremely tight and it is hard to talk, eat, etc for at least a month. I had a lot of burning, stinging, tightness the first few days after surgery. I also can't handle pain pills so this may be relieved by pills. My upper lip still feels kind of tight, especially first thing in the morning. It took abou 2 months for my upper lip to move properly while talking (and eating). Closing my lips was difficult to near impossible for the first week after surgery, nor did I want to do it since I didn't want put tension on my newly lifted lip! The stitches under my nose dissolved about 7 days after surgery. The stitches with the glue on top of them made me look super attractive, as you can see in some of my pics.... ????. I still have a visible red scar line under nose but it is easily covered with makeup. I expect it to be red until about a yar, then I am hoping for it to turn white. Another thing to consider for this surgery is that you will most likely have some form of a scar and you will have to decide if it's worth it. For me, I would rather have a small scar than a long upper lip so it was not a deal breaker for me. I am in the process of getting veneers on my top 8 teeth. My teeth were very short from years of clenching/grinding at night, so I am getting them to add much needed length to my teeth. I have the temporaries in right now and I have even more tooth show while in repose and when talking and I just love it. I am very happy with my lip lift and don't regret it, even though I may always have a small scar and some tightness in upper lip. So for those interested in this procedure, do your homework, find the right doctor for you and the results you want, and know that it may take many months for you to look "normal". Since I wanted a dramatic result, I told everyone that I was getting it done.. That way, I didn't have to hide out for 3 months until I looked normal.

I am adding some more close up pics of under nose and face for those that want to see scar area. I do have light cover up on. Also, something to consider. For those with a small top lip like mine, getting a lip lift will raise your upper lip but won't do much in terms of making it fuller or more pink show. I was at first disappointed in this because I assumed I would all of a sudden have a full upper lip. You will need to get a bit of filler like I did to give some volume to lip after procedure. Those with a full upper lip but simply have a long distance, will have greater results with pink show and volume after surgery. Just something to consider for those with a lip like mine.

A few more close up pics. I like how the shortened skin makes my profile better. I guess I didn't think much about that pre-surgery because you typically don't see your own profile. I didn't realize how the excess skin affected my profile (negatively) until I took before pics to send to Dr. R for consult.......