Best Candidates for the Procedure:

The most appropriate candidates for lip reshaping and fat transfer are patients who have:

• A desire for more permanent results than temporary injectable fillers (which only address volume anyway)
• Lips that have become thin, inverted, shapeless or sagging with age
• Had other facial rejuvenation surgeries and want their lips to sync up with the rest of their face
• Had a rhinoplasty and find that their upper lip is too long
• Naturally unbalanced lips
• Naturally thin, inverted or flat lips that are nearly invisible, imparting an angry expression

General Information About The Procedure:

Dr. Haworth has altered his upper lip lift technique 3 times over the last 14 years. The first version involved skin-only lip lifting, but he realized that results were not as lasting and the scars not as good. Additionally, there was a higher frequency of collateral distortion around the nose in which the nostrils were displaced downwards by a millimeter or two. Therefore, he exclusively started incorporating lifting the orbicularis oris muscle (below the skin) as well. Contrary to common myth, this does not involve cutting the muscle out, but is simply a shortening or hemming of the muscle via a folding technique onto the periosteum (lining) of the bones beneath the nose. This tended to not only improve the scarring (to near invisibility) with minimal-to-no nasal distortion, but also provide far longer-lasting results.

Typical Recovery Time:

Recovery is slightly longer with some subjective stiffness and numbness of the upper lip lasting for about 2-4 months. Rarely does numbness last longer since only microscopic nerve branches exist within the area the actual cutting and sewing is performed. It is analogous to the tempoarary numbness one may experience after a breast augmentation, tummy tuck or, indeed, any type of surgery.