Dermal fat graft to lips (with permalip removal)

My lips are still beautiful. I do periodically use a tiny bit of filler to fix some minor unevenness. I am still extremely happy I did this procedure. I get compliments on my lips all the time.

Overall, I do not regret this procedure one bit. It is truly life changing for those of us who have tiny lips. But since I’ve posted my review, I’ve had several people contact me with questions and photographs regarding complications they’ve endured. I’m going to go over some of these in more detail and what I had to do to correct it:
1. UNEVENNESS - The first complication, which was chalked up to uneven swelling, was indeed that the fat graft itself was uneven. If this happens to you, it WILL start to even out and not look so obvious, but you have to give it LOTS OF TIME.
2. HEALING - Which leads me to my second point. The actual healing time of this procedure is extremely long. There will be residual swelling for months. It may be 3-6 months before your lips truly feel like your own again and all residual swelling is completely gone.
3. MIGRATION OF STITCHES - I had a complication where my stitches actually migrated and a pocket of fat started protruding from my lips. I saw my local surgeon to see if he could close it back up, but was told by Dr Galitz himself AND my local surgeon that this was something you had to let heal on it’s own. This took several weeks for the skin to grow back over the protruding fat while I also had to keep trimming the excess fat as it healed. This was not fun and slightly embarrassing. This also led to pretty bad scarring in all four quadrants where incisions were made.
4. SCARRING - there is a huge risk for scarring which is very hard to address when it comes to your lips. The scarring can be very thick and deep. PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOUR STITCHES. If you notice them migrating, get it assessed ASAP.
5. SCAR TREATMENT / TRIMMING EXCESS TISSUE - I begged my local surgeon for months to trim excess tissue and “cut out” bumps/thick scarring from my lips. (I was not willing to pay for another plane ticket, hotel, days off work and babysitter to go back to Dr Galitz) He did not feel it was a good idea and talked me into doing CO2 laser treatments to essentially “burn off” the excess tissue and scarring. I finally gave in and it worked out almost perfectly. I did not lose any volume to my lips and 3 out of the 4 quadrants are now virtually scar-free. I have one scar that is VERY THICK AND DEEP - and this wasn’t even the quadrant that the fat was protruding from! I feel I will need a few more treatments on that area.
6. WEIGHT FLUCTUATION - Since I had this procedure done I lost 25 pounds. Because the fat graft was taken from my lower abdomen, I did notice my lips also shrunk in size. Although this was not a HUGE difference, it was definitely noticeable to me. I have recently gained 10 pounds back and noticed my lips have puffed up a little more.
IN CONCLUSION:
-CO2 laser works very well for scarring/burning off excess tissue but is not a perfect solution. (I honestly feel there is none)
-Using fillers helps a lot with any unevenness...but adds an extra monthly/bimonthly expense trying to camouflage and it wears off quickly in the lips.
-Permanent makeup may be a good solution to help blend the white scar tissue. I am looking into doing this next.
-If you are traveling to see Dr Galitz, try and stick around so he can address any complications right away. I was not able to stay and left town immediately after my procedure.
-Before this procedure, I tried lots of filler and two different sizes of permalip implants... and I would still recommend this method over any of those because of it’s naturalness and permanency... just be prepared to deal with these possible complications!
I have attached current photos of my lips today. Any filler I previously had is almost 100% gone. When I have the filler in my lips, the unevenness is not noticeable at all.

Overall, I do not regret this procedure one bit. It is truly life changing for those of us who have tiny lips. But since I’ve posted my review, I’ve had several people contact me with questions and photographs regarding complications they’ve endured. I’m going to go over some of these in more detail and what I had to do to correct it:

1. UNEVENNESS - The first complication, which was chalked up to uneven swelling, was indeed that the fat graft itself was uneven. If this happens to you, it WILL start to even out and not look so obvious, but you have to give it LOTS OF TIME.

2. HEALING - Which leads me to my second point. The actual healing time of this procedure is extremely long. There will be residual swelling for months. It may be 3-6 months before your lips truly feel like your own again and all residual swelling is completely gone.

3. MIGRATION OF STITCHES - I had a complication where my stitches actually migrated and a pocket of fat started protruding from my lips. I saw my local surgeon to see if he could close it back up, but was told by Dr Galitz himself AND my local surgeon that this was something you had to let heal on it’s own. This took several weeks for the skin to grow back over the protruding fat while I also had to keep trimming the excess fat as it healed. This was not fun and slightly embarrassing. This also led to pretty bad scarring in all four quadrants where incisions were made.

4. SCARRING - there is a huge risk for scarring which is very hard to address when it comes to your lips. The scarring can be very thick and deep. PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOUR STITCHES. If you notice them migrating, get it assessed ASAP.

5. SCAR TREATMENT / TRIMMING EXCESS TISSUE - I begged my local surgeon for months to trim excess tissue and “cut out” bumps/thick scarring from my lips. (I was not willing to pay for another plane ticket, hotel, days off work and babysitter to go back to Dr Galitz) He did not feel it was a good idea and talked me into doing CO2 laser treatments to essentially “burn off” the excess tissue and scarring. I finally gave in and it worked out almost perfectly. I did not lose any volume to my lips and 3 out of the 4 quadrants are now virtually scar-free. I have one scar that is VERY THICK AND DEEP - and this wasn’t even the quadrant that the fat was protruding from! I feel I will need a few more treatments on that area.

6. WEIGHT FLUCTUATION - Since I had this procedure done I lost 25 pounds. Because the fat graft was taken from my lower abdomen, I did notice my lips also shrunk in size. Although this was not a HUGE difference, it was definitely noticeable to me. I have recently gained 10 pounds back and noticed my lips have puffed up a little more.

IN CONCLUSION:
-CO2 laser works very well for scarring/burning off excess tissue but is not a perfect solution. (I honestly feel there is none)

-Using fillers helps a lot with any unevenness...but adds an extra monthly/bimonthly expense trying to camouflage and it wears off quickly in the lips.

-Permanent makeup may be a good solution to help blend the white scar tissue. I am looking into doing this next.

-If you are traveling to see Dr Galitz, try and stick around so he can address any complications right away. I was not able to stay and left town immediately after my procedure.

-Before this procedure, I tried lots of filler and two different sizes of permalip implants... and I would still recommend this method over any of those because of it’s naturalness and permanency... just be prepared to deal with these possible complications!

I have attached current photos of my lips today. Any filler I previously had is almost 100% gone. When I have the filler in my lips, the unevenness is not noticeable at all.