Lip Implants on 6/18/15 45 y.o. Lips Were Starting to Shrink and I Could See the Writing on the Wall - New York

My face is holding up pretty well! But my lips were shrinking and I could see the future as a bit bleak. . So I threw down $5000 and said, let's see what happens. I know that's a lot but I wanted someone who I could trust. We'll see if it pays off. I feel weirdly confident in Dr. Pearlman's skills but I need to obviously wait for the final result. So just had the procedure. To begin, I have a lot of facial pain each day. I may even have trigeminal nerve pain. Not really sure. But my face hurts a lot. I survived a life threatening illness 15 years ago and the discs in my jaw were torn during a surgery and I've struggled with pain ever since in my face. O.K., so I bring up this point because the procedure was not too bad at all. The dental block shots barely hurt and that was the worst. But when it was almost over they must have worn off and I'm now in significant pain. THIS IN NO WAY REFLECTS THE AVERAGE EXPERIENCE. I ended up in terrible pain from restylane injections when swelling occurred. My lips looked amazing but my lips deflated within 6 weeks. I wanted a permanent solution. I would like to find a before pic but have hated having my picture taken so I'll do some searching. Dr. Pearlman's assistant took some in his office so if this works out I will ask his office people to send me the pics. I just took a 2nd pain med and we shall see if the pain becomes manageable. Overall, it was a very positive experience. Apparently the worst swelling is on the 3rd day so I am kind of dreading that. But I have to say the procedure was really not too bad. When my lips would sting he would inject more stuff to numb it. And I'm pretty sure I was unique in feeling pain during the procedure. O.K., so I shall post the first pic. Totally scary looking but I knew this going in. I have checked NOT SURE. Hopefully I can change it when the swelling goes down to "Yes." and "Worth It." I have high hopes.

Okay, so after reading lots of reviews of lip implants I discovered a lot of people have some pretty intense pain. So I'd recommend for anyone doing the surgery to make sure the nurse gives you something in the office and when you get home get the pain meds prescription filled asap. The initial hours are the worst. The good news is that after I took the 2 pain pills yesterday I haven't needed anything more than tylenol and ice since. I've been icing a lot. Dr. Pearlman called last night and suggested I not watch a comedy. This morning I started to watch a funny interview and when I laughed - Ouch. It really hurt. I shut it off and will be sticking to documentaries and dramas for at least a few days. I could only really eat popsicles yesterday and a banana. Today I'm onto yogurt. I have to clean the sides of my mouth with neosporin after I eat because the yogurt lingers in the stitches. The pictures don't really show how crazy my face looks. I bought some surgical masks in case I need to leave the house. These lips are nowhere near ready for public viewing.

O.K., so 49 hours since surgery. My lips are still swollen but the top has gone down a lot. My new concern is that the implants aren't going to be big enough. I'm wondering if I should have gone for 5 mm instead of 4 mm. Some of the women complained about how small their lips turned out. I think no matter what I'll be satisfied if my lips have some 3 D qualities that stabilize. It was soooo upsetting watching them go. And I like that the sides of my mouth don't look like Joker mouth. I'm just hoping the distance between my nose and upper lip will shortens over the next few days. The heaviness of the lip implant and swollenness is lowering it. A remarkable amount of swelling has gone down, though. I still look like a lizard monkey but I know 48 hours is nothing. I was expecting it to be much worse at this point. And although I'm still taking tylenol and icing, there's very little discomfort. So BooYah.