32 Years Old, Lip Lift with Dr Miguel Mascaro

Warning - this is going to be a loooonnggg post but I have gotten so much insight and help from Real Self, i feel the need to return the favor!
I had my lip lift today with Dr. Mascaro. I had the procedure performed at the Broward Health North Hospital not in his Delray Office. I do not believe the doctor does this often, just a couple times a year to maintain his hospital privileges. In exchange for agreeing to have the procedure performed at the hospital, I received a discount and paid $2,000.00 total for the procedure instead of $2,500.00.
I traveled from Los Angeles California to have this procedure performed. Part of the reason for choosing to come all the way to Florida to have this done (when there a handful of doctors in Los Angeles that do the procedure) was the price. However when you come from California you do have a bit of additional expenses; flights, rental car, hotel for a week (that is how long you need to wait to have your stitches removed), so all in all the savings are not huge, all things considering.
The main reason I chose Dr. Mascaró was because of Real Self and the pictures others have posted from their procedures. People's lips do not look crazy swollen after his lip lifts and his stitching is so small and neat, the scarring from the procedure seems to almost be non existent. Also his prior patients’ recovery time appears to be faster than other doctors and overall everyone has had great things to say about him and his office.
Well my experience so far has been almost spot on to everyone else. I primarily dealt with Maria from his office for all pre-procedure info and logistics. She is great, responds very quickly to emails and phone calls, checks in several times with you leading up to the procedure, very thorough. Dr. Mascaro has great bedside manner, all our interactions from the Initial Skype consult, emails back and forth, his personal call the day before the procedure, to his two phone calls after the procedure to check up on me today - show his true dedication to his practice and patients.
Having the procedure done at the hospital was a little different than what I was expecting, I have only had cosmetic surgeries in my life (breast reduction 1 year ago and a breast lift 4 years ago) and so I had only experienced cosmetic surgery centers. Hospitals are a bit different, main difference is the time, I went in at 7am- had almost 2 hours of prep, my procedure was at 9am and then I didn’t go home until around 1pm. It was a long day, especially coming off a red eye flight from Los Angeles directly to the hospital. The reason for the length of time is because the hospital treats all procedures the same, whether it is a small outpatient procedure or a hysterectomy (the woman across from me was getting ready for that surgery) they do pre-op, urine sample, IV, heart monitors, the whole nine yards and they place you in recovery room after the procedure to re-check vitals, provide discharge instructions etc. I didn’t mind as I had no where to be, I’m going to be in Florida for a week so I didn’t care what time I got out of there. I also took a couple of great naps during the wait times - the beds/gurneys are super comfy, you get warm blankets changed every 30 mins or so and the nurses give you very comfy warm socks to wear. Winning! The other difference is you spend most of the time in a room with several other patients (only curtain sheets separate your bed) and you are in the mix of a hospital surgery center which is somewhat chaotic. You can hear and see what is going on around you and you are one of many patients in a room which the nurses are tending to. I personally did not mind this, for one the nurses at the hospital were fantastic! At one point I felt bad that I was taking up a bed and having nurses tend to me when so many other serious procedures were going on around me, but the nurses made me feel right at home and explained that small outpatient procedures are done the same way as more serious procedures. They also let me know that there were 3 other girls from California there that morning all undergoing the same procedure so I was not alone! Haha
The worst part of the procedure are the numbing injections, if you have ever had lip filler you know how sensitive that area is. And the injections feel like they go pretty deep. But that part of the process takes 2 mins max and then it’s over! The rest of the procedure is a breeze. When Dr Mascaro was marking me and taking photos I asked that he take off as much skin as possible haha he said he would take off as much as he could get away with and I trusted his judgment.
The procedure itself is painless, you do feel some pressure and you can hear the instruments a little bit, when he is stitching you can feel the tugging a little but no pain. FYI - Dr Mascaro’s Office did give me the option to have the procedure done, fly home tomorrow after he sees me the following morning and have my stitches removed from a doctor of my choosing back home. I chose to stay and have him remove the stitches because his stitches are so tiny and so close to your naval base, the thread he uses is the thickness of a string of hair - I felt more comfortable having him remove it. Also I’m not sure how comfortable another doctor back home is with removing stitches he did not himself put in (too many malpractice suits in Los Angeles) and I didn’t want to chance having to return after not finding a doctor I trusted to remove them back home.
I am back in my hotel room now and I have very little swelling today. There is some soreness after the numbing wore off. But I have been icing and applying ointment as instructed and I see Dr Mascaro in his Delray Office tomorrow at 8am. I will post some before and after pics. So far I love how the lips look but I want to wait a little longer (at least a week) before I rate the procedure Worth It. So for now it is Not Sure.

I saw Dr. Mascaro yesterday for my check up. He said everything looks good. I don’t have any pain - just a little tightness. Can’t wait to have my stitches taken out! I am going to post some before and afters to track my difference.

I feel and look pretty much the same as day 3. The tightness around my upper lip is slowly fading. Dr. M instructed me to eat only soft foods during these first few days and not even thinking I started munching on some chips. I def felt the pull on my stitches as I was chewing and had to stop. Listen to the doctor! Haha. I am posting some smiling pics today! So far everything is going great!