54 Y/o, Lip Lift and 5 Mm Surgisil Implants Upper and Lower - Charleston, SC

I already did a lip implant review in the implant section, but I also had a bullhorn lip lift so I thought I might as well put that here. I'm 54 years old and the rest of my face is still pretty great, but my lips were just shriveled and gone. Not a pretty look. I did the Juvederm thing which didn't help much at all because my other problem, besides lack of volume, was excessive philtrum length. I found my surgeon on the Surgisil website and decided to consult with him because he only does facial surgery and very complex reconstructive surgery at that. He brings children from all over the world and fixes severe facial tumors, hemangiomas, cleft palates, etc. He knows what he's doing when it comes to constructing a face. He's a lovely, lovely man as well. He spent a lot of time with me exploring and explaining my options and was frank that implants would not achieve the fix I was looking for.

He explained that my philtrum was excessively long and that placing an implant would do nothing to help that problem; an implant would only create projection under my top lip since the implant is placed at the wet-dry border and in my case that border was hidden under my lip. He recommended a lift instead - which was $1300 cheaper than implants, btw - so I elected to do both. Lift to shorten the philtrum and expose the wet-dry border, and implants to create volume. The outcome is nothing short of amazing. The procedure was painless, except for the shots. That did hurt, I can't lie. I was premedicated with 10 mg of valium and 50 mg of Nucynta (a narcotic) and pretty much dozed through the operation after those killer shots.

I've had little swelling and bruising because the doc started me on a Medrol pack and Arnika Forte the morning before the procedure which I found amazing. The incision from the lift is painless as are the lips themselves. They are tight and feel odd, but they don't hurt. I haven't needed pain meds or ice. I did have a chin implant as well and that's a whole other story - it really, really hurts, so I have taken narcotics for that.

Anyway, this is turning into a novel so I'll stop for now and upload some pics. Let me know if you have questions. I'm happy to answer!

I had my 7 day follow-up yesterday and my stitches were removed. It stung a bit, but wasn't too uncomfortable. My cell phone camera sucks (sorry about that) and you can't see it too well but the incision is healing well and the bumps between the sutures will flatten over the next few days as the fluid can now absorb into the surrounding tissue. There is, as I thought, a lot of swelling in my chin and jowl area from the chin implant and it makes my jawline look really really weird. Doc said it will take several weeks for my new jawline to emerge. My chin is still entirely numb on the right side and probably will be for some time to come.
I do have make-up on in the pic, but nothing on my lips or the incision. For anyone that cares, I am wearing Too Faced Born This Way foundation in the shade Vanilla. This is seriously the BEST foundation ever for us more mature ladies. Highly recommend!