Lip Lift Revision - Finally, some tooth show!

I always felt like something was off about the way my upper teeth hardly showed whenever I smile, and how they didn't show at all when my lips were slightly parted or even when I talked. It always bothered me but I could never pinpoint why exactly until I learned about the lip lift procedure. I realized I could have my philtrum shortened to improve the shape of my small, flat upper lip and potentially have some tooth show.

I had my first lip lift ($3,300) in May 2019. I literally only chose my first surgeon because he was closest me. He only had one or two before and after pics from previous patients. (That's a red flag friends, go with a doctor with plenty of pictures and reviews.) I won't say too much about my experience with him because this review isn't about that (maybe I'll do one later.) Long story short, while I do believe it is an improvement to what I had before, it could have been so much better if I had chosen a better surgeon.

For starters, I hate my scar. I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but in person it looks pretty awful. I am 5-6 months out and I even had laser treatment on the scar and it's still super obvious. Not only that, I have weird raised skin on both sides of my columella that weren't there before. Maybe it's residual swelling? That's what I'm hoping.

Secondly, of course, I still have no tooth show. It's better than it was before, but not where I want it to be. Like my teeth show only if I force it with my expression (but before it didn't matter what expression I made.) I get it, I have tiny gums and my teeth are on the small side. However, I know that if just 2 or 3 more mms were removed, I would have had at least a sliver of tooth show at rest, which I would have been happy with.

I was so disappointed with my first lip lift that I decided to go for a second one. I scheduled a consultation with Dr. Mascaro because of his shining reviews and gorgeous before and after pictures. He actually personally responded to my request, to which I attached pics, and he validated my concerns and agreed that I could benefit from removing a couple more mms.

I've been in contact with his surgical coordinator Lauren Owens and she has been so incredibly responsive and helpful. She helped me schedule a skype consultation for 11/25/19. I'm actually leaving the state early next year so I asked if I could be scheduled for surgery as well. She helped me hold a date tentatively for 12/19/19 until I have my consultation and get everything finalized. I'll be driving about 4 hours from where I live to get there and I'll be staying at an airbnb for a week until my sutures come out. I can't wait!!

I am currently at 13mms and I'm hoping to be at 9-10mms by the end of this. I'm trying to find out what mms I started with, will update when I do.

My consultation was moved up to today (yay!) I got to speak to Dr. Mascaro on skype, and he is very friendly and easy to talk to, I felt comfortable immediately. He reiterated that I could stand to lose a few mms for the tooth show I'm hoping for! So I started at 14mms, I'm currently at 13mms, and Dr. Mascaro said that since I'm petite and my face is small I could get away with going down to 8mms if I wanted. I was so happy to hear that because I was worried I wouldn't be able to be less than 10mms. The actual amount to be removed will be decided on the day of surgery when he can see me in person.
In regards to my current lack of tooth show, I realized it's not that my teeth are small necessarily, but my gums are practically nonexistent as well as the length of my philtrum so I've been worried I would never have tooth show. After speaking to Dr. Mascaro, I'm even more confident that I'll get the result I always wanted.
The next step is for his surgical coordinator to get in touch with me again to finalize some things and get my official surgery date. I'm so excited!!
By the way, Dr. Mascaro's office accepts Alphaeon credit as of me writing this update, not carecredit Make sure that's the first thing you ask when contacting them so you can sort that out ASAP if you don't have all the money to pay in one go. I'm still waiting on my card, hoping to receive it today so I can pay today and officially set my surgery date.

I just got back to my airbnb after my surgery! Please don't mind my nostrils, I have a tendency to swell easily and they will settle back to how they were in time.
PROCEDURE:
I'm going to be comparing between this experience and my first to emphasize the importance of getting a good surgeon such as Dr. Mascaro in the first place rather than going to a mediocre doctor out of convenience. First off, at Dr. M's office I received a ton of thorough instructions for after care before and after the procedure. Not the case at 1st Dr. (let's call 1st one Dr. S) Dr. S didn't even tell me to ice.
Dr. M thoroughly discussed with me how much we can remove and how it would look, what's a good limit, etc. My starting measurement was actually 12.5mm and Dr. M said we'd go for 7.5mm. I know that sounds drastic but he said because I'm a petite lady I can pull it off. Also I'm sure it'll drop anyway so it's perfect in my opinion. I really want that tooth show! Dr. S hadn't given me many options and wanted to be way too conservative. I essentially paid Dr. S $3.3k to mutilate my face for a measly 1.5 mms difference and a terrible scar in a terrible place.
With Dr. M, the only pain I felt were the first two injections and it was bearable. After I was numb from those, I couldn't feel the rest of the injections or anything else for that matter. I did feel some sharpness when he was stitching me up at the end because I guess the numbing was wearing off but again, it was bearable. Dr. S stabbed me with the needle multiple times in a row very roughly, it hurt so bad I was crying. I wasn't even completely numb because I felt some pain while he was cutting me up, but he didn't bother to give me more numbing despite my protests. It was traumatizing.
AFTERMATH:
It's been about 3 hrs post op at the time of writing this. I'm so excited to finally see some tooth show!! I had NONE before. I'm already VERY swollen, but that's because I'm the type that swells a lot. That's why my nostrils and lip look so big in the photos. I'm really glad we went for a more aggressive lift because I know it'll drop in time, and I don't want to regret not taking off more when it does.
I have no issues with closing my mouth despite the aggressive lift but that's because of how I'm built, everyone is different. However I'm going to keep my mouth relaxed (lips slightly parted) while I heal because I'm afraid to strain even a little at this time.
Anyway, I'll report back in a week once my sutures are removed! (Dec. 24th)