Permalip Lip Implants 5mm. Petite features, but went straight for the large implants. Flat 2 Fab in 2 weeks!

Once upon a decade or two ago....in (what seems like) a parallel universe.... I had lots of youthful volume in my lips. Lol. Needless to say, the volume has left the building.... and my face.
All joking aside, over the years my lips have shriveled into little flat raisins and I just couldn't take it anymore. After using filler that didn't last in my face for years I started researching facial implants. During my research, I found out about Permalip. I read all the bad and great things about the implants. I read the research study on the product and all the reviews I could find on RS.
I decided several months back that I was going to get cheek/midfacial implants and lip implants. I found the perfect doctor to do my cheek implants, but he didn't do the lip implants. He told me all the issues that lip implants are known for, which I knew from all my research, and he explained why he didn't do them. I totally understood and agreed that the issues with them were valid and important to consider.
To me, I had a 50/50 chance that lip implants would be good. I was willing to take the chance since I knew that lip injections were not an option and were a 100/100 waste of money.
I contacted the manufacturer of Permalip and they provided a list of doctors in my area and area of travel that could do the surgery. I will tell you that some of the Doctors on the list are outdated and not all of them do the Permalip surgery very often. Also, there are lots of doctors that are not on their provided list that actually do the surgery. (Just food for thought)
I had to do the surgery the same time I was out of work for my cheeks and also find a doctor who would do the 5mm on both my top and bottom. Some doctors will not do the 5mm for different reasons so I knew that could be an issue.
Long story short....I found a doctor. After seeing pictures of me with much fuller lips, he agreed to do 5mm on me, but advised me that I would look more "done" with the 5mm then the 4mm. I was totally okay with the "done" look so that wasn't an issue for me. He also agreed to do the surgery the day after my cheek surgery, which was perfect for me.
I kinda of "tried on" the sample implants that were in the room the day that I met with the doctor. Putting them up to my face gave me a good idea of the difference between the medium 4mm and the large 5mm. I was able to show my husband when I got home and make a better decision about the size before surgery. I was also measured by the doctor when I met him and my lips were 52mm in length. The Doctor said he was ordering the smallest length 55mm and that he could trim them if needed. I was a little concerned after leaving his office that day because I was unintentionally closed/tight lipped when he measured me. The research study I read on the product said the best measurement is done with the patient's mouth slightly opened so, I was worried the measurement would be off.
Since I'm not a doctor I just had faith in my doctor (who does this surgery at least once a week) and tried not to worry about it.
*THIS WILL BE AN ONGOING REVIEW*

I had the Permalip surgery the day after my cheek implants so, please take that into consideration when looking at the photographs. The surgery was about 30 minutes long and it was in office using a dental block. The dental block was not fun and it was even worse when it wore off after I got home, but I did not feel any pain during surgery. I was already under prescribed medication for my cheeks so the doctor who did my lips did not prescribe any additional medication at the time of surgery.
While I was in surgery, there were about 7-10 other people in the room observing the surgery for various reasons. This didn't bother me and I was happy to allow them to watch the procedure. The bottom lip went easy and perfect. The doctor even made the comment on how perfect the implant went in. The top lip, however, felt a little different and I immediately noticed a large amount of swelling and bruising developing on the left side when I got into my car to leave. I didn't have access to a mirror until I got into my car. I didn't think to much of it at the time since I had seen some crazy pictures on RS with a lot of similar bruising and swelling. I also had some swelling in my upper lip and upper lip paralysis from the cheek surgery the day before and didn't know if that caused the additional issue with that lip.
When I got home the dental block started to wear off and I felt like I was coming out of my skin. Borderline panic attack-ish. My lips and teeth hurt so bad!!! I immediately started to rub ice on my lips and gums to ease the pain. I got a syringe and started using it to pump in ice water to swish around my mouth. I took the the pain meds for my cheeks and finally it subsided the pain from my lips and teeth. This was not fun.
I used meds the rest of the week for my cheeks so I didn't have any lip pain; however, I will tell you that because I did my cheeks the same time as my lips -my lips did not heal as quick as most people I've read about on RS. It took every bit of two weeks for all the swelling and bruising to subside in my lips.
Also, I had mentioned that my doctor measured my lip length at 52mm and he did end up using the entire 55mm implant during surgery without trimming it. I expected this and knew that the 52mm was a pretty tight lipped measurement. I actually felt much better when he told me that he ended up using the entire implant.
Notes:
-Get a syringe that is used for medications and use it for drinking during the first week or two of healing / or get a turkey baster
-don't use a straw if possible
-drink fresh pineapple shakes and meal replacement shakes. (You will not want to eat. I didn't.)
-my doctor made incisions on each inner corner of my mouth. Be prepared to be uncomfortable.
After about a 4 days, my lips were not as sore to the touch as they had been. I was able to touch them and feel the implant. I noticed that the top implant was only occupying 3/4 of my lip and there was no implant from 1/4 to the left corner. This was where I had a large bruise and asymmetrical swelling located.
Day 5, I had my follow up with the doctor and I addressed the issue with the top implant. He said that the implant migrated to the right due to the large amount of bruising and swelling on the left. He told me to start massaging the implant on the corners and he showed me how to do it. He hoped that I would get the implant to move back into the tunnel as the bruising and swelling dissipate. He removed my stitches and we scheduled another follow up for the following week.
I worked very hard to get the implant to move back over the course of the next week....

So, my top lip implant migrated and I massaged, tugged and tried to work it back into the tunnel that it moved out of. Never happened. At one point I thought it moved back a little bit, but then I realized I was just moving the tail end of it up into my mustache line.... My follow up appointment the week after came and went. The doctor's office was closed due to bad weather so I didn't get to see him and explain what was going on. The following week I had to cancel the appointment because of work and I was becoming more and more frustrated with my results.
When I finally went back to work everyone knew that I had gotten my lips done. They were still swollen and would often times swell more towards the end of my day (probably due to sodium/salt intake). They would also turn red when they got swollen, which just brought even more attention to them.
I work with nothing but men so, you can only imagine how many jokes and nick names I got over the first couple of weeks back at work. I usually don't take things personal and I often would find myself cracking jokes back just to make light of the situation; however, the girl part of me was sensitive to it and felt like I looked terrible. My husband was in love with the lips though and never stopped telling me how beautiful they were and how great I looked. He was the only reason why I didn't run to the doctor and demand them to be removed immediately. He kept me sane and somehow always made me feel beautiful. (I'm a lucky girl)
I've questioned myself a lot with this procedure and I was very regretful afterwards. My lips became very tight and restrictive when I tried to talk. The lip paralysis from the cheek implants just made it even worse. I looked like a walking plastic surgery mishap.
I knew after all my research on Permalip that once I hit the 2 week mark I needed to start the manufacturer's suggested exercises to help the implants soften. *see photo* I decided to start them on my own since I hadn't seen my PS yet.
When I missed and rescheduled my follow up for work reasons I received an email from my PS (plastic surgeon). He was checking on me and wanted to know about the implant that moved. I explained to him that 1/4 on the left side of my upper lip was empty. I also told him that my lips were hard and restrictive. To me, they looked blocky and they felt uncomfortable. He told me to keep doing my exercises that I started and continue massaging them. He also prescribed Accolate 20mg/2x a day to help soften my lips/implants so they wouldn't be so restrictive.
I scheduled my follow up for the following week and did as he asked.
FYI - during this time it took everything out of me not to have these implants removed. They drove me nuts! I was not prepared for the way they changed my entire look and face. I was not prepared for how uncomfortable they were. I was not prepared for how noticeable they would be to everyone and how long the swelling would last. Correction: I did think people would notice, but even strangers looked at my lips in question of what I did to them and I did not expect the huge change that I saw in the mirror. I looked so different and it was hard to get use to the change in the size and shape of my lips. I am sure that my cheek implants magnified the change I saw and increased my sense of feeling overwhelmed by it all.
As much as I thought I prepared myself for Permalip and as much research as I did.... I ended up feeling like I overestimated my ability to actually like them. I hoped, like so many others, that i would be different then all the bad reviews I read. I thought I would get lucky and they would be perfectly placed, not migrate and make my lips look amazing..... wishful thinking, I guess.
Or not.....
Well, after a week of exercises my bottom lip it was almost unnoticeable and had softened. I didn't feel it anymore. It wasn't restrictive and I was getting use to how it looked. I was even starting to kind of like it......