Lip Lift - Los Angeles, CA

I am currently 11 days post op. This is a procedure I had considered having for many years but I wanted to feel confident in my choice of doctor and also to wait until the last vestiges of filler had disappeared in my lips. My main objective was to reduce the distance between my nose and upper lip which has always been long - around 20mm. I wasn't so concerned with tooth show or volume but I suspect that once the swelling goes down I will see an increase in both.
The procedure itself is over with very quickly but the recovery and especially the swelling is more challenging than I had expected despite reading about the experiences of many others. My swelling in the first week was quite extreme in comparison to what I've seen on this and other sites. There was very little change from day to day and I had trouble eating, drinking, talking and sleeping. I certainly wasn't in pain but I would describe it as uncomfortable and slightly horrifying for anyone you happen to bump into! Today is probably the first day I haven't felt as though I have comedy lips… I will post more images shortly.

The distance of my upper lip was decreased by about a third as you can see in the markings made immediately before surgery. I was hopeful to get rid of the horizontal crease above my lip (as can be seen in the BEFORE photo above) and fortunately this was exactly the base line point of Dr Haworth's measurements.

Week one: Aside from my lips, I experienced swelling in my cheeks and nose. My nose was - and to a lesser extent still is - swollen to the point of pushing the tip upwards. However, there is no elongation or distortion of the nostrils or columella. The incision became rather inflamed and fiery as can be seen on day 5. As per instruction, I applied antibiotic cream after cleaning the area with simple soap and water. Stitches came out on day 6 and topical skin adhesive was applied.

To clarify the BEFORE pictures, I have filler in the image where I'm smiling with teeth show and also in the image with lipstick. The third image is with no upper lip filler.

During the second week the reduction in swelling was more noticeable but it is certainly a slow process! My upper lip area and nose still feel tight and stiff but this is improving. As recommended by Dr Haworth I have started doing mouth exercises (pouting, wide smile, pouting etc) which feels as if it helps stretch the scar tissue so it doesn't form so tightly. My nose is probably more swollen than my lips at this point.

The scar is still quite pink and raised but that is to be expected. I tried covering it with make up yesterday but found that quite difficult because of the unevenness. It very much looked like I was covering something up if that makes sense (although at night and from a distance of a couple of metres and from front on, it looks fine!). It's still difficult to eat closing my mouth completely and I am not able to annunciate 'p' and 'b' without sounding like I have a slight speech impediment...