'Chele's Lip Journey

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My Lip Journey

My Lip Journey (The Beginning)

Growing up, we all had nicknames. Two of my favorite's were "Mouse" or "Mouse Jr." (Mom was Mouse Sr.), but my least favorite nickname was 'Mouse-Mouth'. As you can see from my pictures below, lips were not ever my 'biggest asset'. As I grew older, I really became more & more unhappy with my lips or lack there of. I have been through so many stages of "should I even bother with lipstick" to 'overdrawing' my lip. Also, as we get older, our lips tend to get smaller (just what I needed) and the length between the nose & upper lip get longer. So here starts my journey...

The Collagen Pic's!!

The First Trial (& Error)

After using hundreds of various cosmetic products & techniques, at the age of 40, I decided to finally do something a little more "drastic" about my lips (or lack there of).

My first experience was with collagen. I had actually talked to a dermatologist about collagen several years prior, but then ended up moving to a different area of the country, so I wasn't able to follow through.

So, after waiting for the skin test (6 week minimum) to make sure I wasn't allergic. I got collagen! 2cc's of it. Which I though should have made a pretty big difference. WRONG! Instead, I got bruising on both sides of my upper lip and what felt like mardi gras beads threaded through my lips. Any fullness (and there wasn't much) I had, disappeared in less than 2 months. So much for that $500! In my opinion, save the $500 for something else!

After Collagen

Before Collagen

See much difference, I sure didn't!

Lip Lift Surgery

"Snidely Whiplash!"

My Lip Lift Surgery

I had a vertical lip lift, or what we, on the lip augmentation board call it; a modified "bull-horn lip lift" on September 4, 02. I was one of the subjects on an educational video being done for the Plastic Surgery Association. A bull-horn lip lift is where they cut an incision under your nose, remove excess upper lip skin and pull your lip up. My surgeon, Dr. Richard Anderson, also chose to do incisions up higher on both nostrils, bringing up the sides of my upper lip. He shortened the upper lip area between my nose & upper lip by about 3/8". By doing that, it also adds to the actual upper "lip" and will give it an up-turned look. I also had alloderm implants in my upper lip and gore-tex strands in my lower lip.

During my "pre-op" phase, I quit smoking 4 weeks prior to surgery (finally had enough personal motivation), took 500mg of vitamin C twice a day and 2 "plain" multi vitamins. All herbal supplements and any anti-inflammatories (advil, aleve, aspirin) were stopped. My Doctor also prescribed an anti-viral med, an antibiotic and pain meds at my pre-op visit. (I continued all of this for two weeks after my surgery as well.) I also purchased homeopathic medicines for bruising & swelling. Sin Ecch, Arnica gel and Bromelain. I was very pleased with those products. I feel that the healing of my bruising & swelling was helped significantly.

Unfortunately, I ended up with an infection/rejection at my lower lip. I was put on two types of antibiotics at the same time to see if I could "Heal myself". At my follow-up appointment, it was decided that I needed to have the implant removed and then in several months, will get my lower lip re-done.

Click Here to see a day by day journal of the procedure.

See below for before & after pics!

Here is an approximate sketch of the incision lines that my surgeon drew on my face for my lip lift.

Click Here for Post "Lip-Lift" Surgery Pictures and Journal!

WARNING-This shows the good , bad & ugly. Some pictures are not for the faint of heart.

Before & After Pic's

A Picture is worth a thousand words!

Before's

FINAL After's

After

Before

Post lip-lift & implant re-do upper/lower!

Pre-anything!!

The Re-Do!

After 6 months of waiting, I finally got my re-do for my gore-tex strands that had to be removed. I also got more alloderm in my upper lip, as the original had reabsorbed alot!