Sugar Land Lip Lift! - Sugar Land, TX

Hi guys! Let me start by saying I have *optimistically* checked "Worth It" instead of "Not Sure" because I have a strong feeling everything will turn out fantastic. It's too soon to tell for sure, though, and I am super duper swollen.
I'd been looking into lip lifts for almost 4 years. I'm 29 and I've never liked my lips because they are VERY thin, making me look like I'm permanently pissed off about something! I wanted more volume to the top lip especially; plus, I think it looks really cute and feminine to have a nice small distance between top lip and nose (Penelope Cruz!). I'd had a consult with one other doc here in California, but looking at all the stellar reviews for Dr Horndeski's lip lifts, I decided it would be worth it to fly out to Texas to get this done. I know we all know this, but just to say it one more time: this is totally a HUGE DEAL! While it's a fairly minor operation, relatively speaking, still...it's our face! And it's permanent!! So I definitely wanted to go with a doctor who seemed to have a good deal of experience and consistently glowing reviews, which Dr H has.
I flew in to Sugar Land early this morning, had the operation, and flew out in the afternoon. Everyone at the office was extremely nice. I'd never had any surgery before, cosmetic or otherwise, and I could not stop vacillating between jittery excitement and "What the hell have I gotten myself into!??" kinds of thoughts. Dr H and I had a brief chat in which he answered all the questions I had and we discussed what I wanted. He measured my lips and I'm pretty sure what I started with was 18 mm between top lip and nose. I wanted more skin excised at the sides/ corners of the nose and less in the middle because I DREAD the rabbit look, so we decided he'd take 5 mm off under the nostrils and around the corners of the nose, and just 3 in the middle beneath the columella (spelling?). He is such a kind, laid back dude! He really put me at ease, and just talking to him I could tell he seriously knew what he was doing. I was still super nervous, though!
Then we went in for the surgery. Elisa, his assistant, is lovely. As other reviewers have said, the worst part by a landslide is the numbing injections. Yow!!!! I was prepared for pain, but OMFG those shots are utterly, utterly horrendous! So yes...do mentally prepare yourselves as much as possible for that.
Afterwards, though, no pain; just strange tugging and pulling and clipping sensations. It's certainly a tad unnerving hearing someone snipping skin off your face, but it didn't hurt because I was so numb and I was just thinking the whole time THANK GOD those horrible shots are done with. One other crazy thing was that after he'd excised the skin but before putting in the stitches, he used electricity to stop the bleeding. It was slightly unpleasant just because it smelled strongly of burning skin while that was happening...didn't see that one coming.
Then it was over! I think it took 20 or 30 minutes, all in all. They showed me my face in the mirror and I had a secret inward freakout because I was so swollen and worried 3 mm from the center was still too much, and that I would be permanently rabbity for the rest of my life, but I tried not to let on because I knew you can never tell what something's going to look like right after the surgery. And I knew they'd done a great job. After I picked up the Vicodin and antibiotics they prescribed me, Jana, the uber sweet receptionist, gave me a ride all the way back to George Bush Int'l Airport!
Something that surprised me a bit was the post-op pain. I'd gotten the sense from other reviewers that there wouldn't be much pain afterwards, but I've had to take 3 Vicodin so far because it's pretty bad, and will take another one before going to bed tonight. Also, eating and drinking are both quite awkward. I can't wait for that part to be over, and I really can't wait to see how it heals! I'm so excited for the time when I can put lipstick on and see what that looks like. I think my result will be on the subtle side, but that's what I wanted. I've taken 9 days off of work; I REALLY don't want my co-workers to know I had something done, and would love it even more if my parents couldn't tell, either. I've just posted one post-op pic here, and two of my lips before. I will try to keep posting every day. I know this site helped me tremendously when I was considering/planning this procedure, so I'd like to be a help, too, if I can.

Xoxo!

It's been two days and I can definitely see, and feel, the swelling subsiding. I'm loving it so far! I forgot to mention before that I'd wanted a corner lip lift as well as the bullhorn, because my lips fall into a natural frown. I asked Dr H about this and he vehemently said I shouldn't do it, that he only does the corner lift for way older women who have enough wrinkles around their lips to hide the scar. I was a bit disappointed about that because I've seen some beautiful corner lift results on this site on ladies who are clearly on the young side. I might go for that procedure at a future date, after everything is healed, if I feel I still want it. I'd love a little up turn to the sides! Either way, I am VERY happy with my results as of now and can't wait to see how it turns out as it heals more. Little to no tooth show yet, but I'll be patient :)

It's been four days, and I think the swelling around my lips has almost all disappeared. The weird thing is, it seems to have moved into my lower cheeks, so it looks like I have jowls. I'm guessing this is just because the residual serum from the numbing shots is moving around my face, and hopefully it'll be gone soon.
As I deflate around the mouth area, I'm getting a little worried that maybe I didn't take off enough skin. My tooth show is still very minimal, and I really loved how voluminous my lips looked those first couple of days. I wonder if they're still going to decrease in volume, or if I'll wind up with more of an upturn as the scar heals. Either way, I'm still happy I did it. I'd really prefer not to have to go through the surgery again, though!