Dermal Fat Graft to Upper Lip

I have been putting off this update because it is super uncomfortable for me to leave unfavorable reviews and for the fact that I hate looking in the mirror now, let alone wanting to take pictures. My lip is much smaller than I wanted. This isn't the biggest deal, it is what it is, just wish my expectation would have been managed a little if my ideal wasn't possible for me. However, I am upset about multiple things. My lip is grossly uneven. I look like I'm snarling. Also, my lip may have been tiny before, but I absolutely loved my smile. I can still only half smile, which is fine, but it is so lumpy and uneven. I have never not wanted to smile before and it is starting to really break me down. There are a few other things that have upset me as well, but I am going to give some more time before making my determination on those. I really hope Dr. Galitz will work with me to fix this. I understand we are all human and sometimes things dont go as planned. With how painful part of the procedure was for me and the healing time, I am just feeling really low that it turned out like this. Right now I am horrified at myself for saving up for two years thinking I was finally doing something nice for myself, only to spend it on a severe drop in self esteem. I attached the day 6 side profile that I liked. The rest are 1 month post op.

Days 3-5. I look like a duck mixed with a chipmunk, that just got it's wisdom teeth pulled lol. My cheeks are very swollen, along with my lip. A friend of mine recently got an open rhinoplasty done, broke the nose and everything, and my lower face swelling is comparative to hers. I didn't really take it seriously that just an upper lip graft would require such downtime after. This is a legit surgery that requires delicate post op care to deal with the swelling. They told me to sleep with my head elevated for a week, but I will probably continue with it until my stitches are out. As of day 5 I now have feeling in the corner of my lip again. Looking forward to being able to see my upper teeth again at some point! The biggest struggle, beyond the swelling, is not being able to smile. I am used to laughing a lot and literally have to gently push my chonky chipmonk cheeks inward as to stop my lips from trying to smile when something funny happens lol.
Day 6. A lot of lip swelling went down overnight and added to my cheeks. My right side seems to be healing fastest as my lip is uneven right now. Lip and above is still bruised. The bruising is placed just perfectly to look like I have a yellow mustache lol. I am a little discouraged because how my lip looks today gives me the exact side profile that was my end goal for this procedure (sans cheek swelling). My lips are still swollen and I know im not going to be getting my end result as of day 6 for this. My lip will likely be much smaller than I was hoping. However, that is just a prediction, maybe this ole top lip will prove me wrong. I saw before and afters that gave more volume for the final result than where I am at now so it's just a little confusing and upsetting. Such is life. I am going to wait a couple weeks for my next update so that I can decide how I am feeling on it all. I will post day 6 pictures with that update so that it is not confused as my final lip size.

Day 2. Lip on SWOLL. I appreciate the other reviewers for preparing me for today. My lip is so bruised and so so swollen, which was expected. The area above my lip is bruised too. It is constant pressure and feels like my lip is trying to run away from my face haha. I also have some pain from my lower abdomen where the graft was taken from. I haven't taken any pain meds, I would say my pain level is a 5 out of 10. I have a high pain tolerance and won't take medication unless absolutely necessary. My lip is so swollen that it is basically numb so there's that. Eating is definitely more difficult today. Kudos to those that have had to try to eat after getting both lips done, it is not fun. I'm amazed at how these stitches are holding up with how swollen I am. My bottom lip used to dwarf the top one (see the before pic) and right now my top lip is so swollen that it makes the bottom look thin. Will update in a few days with hopefully good news when the swelling subsides.