Does Medical Insurance Pay For A Corner Of The Mouth Lift?

Q: Dr. Eppley, The corners of my mouth sometimes bleed and droops. Is there anything I can do for this? I LOOK unhappy. I don’t want to use needles and does medical insurance pays for this.

A: A downturned corner of the mouth can create more than a frowning or unhappy look. By acting as a salivary spillway, it can create chronically irritated tissue and yeast infections. This can make the corners of the mouth both red and prone to cracking and intermittent bleeding.

By your symptoms it sounds like you would benefit by a corner of the mouth lift. This is a procedure done under local anesthesia to lift the corners of the mouth by removing a triangle of skin from the overhanging portion. I would need to see a picture of your mouth to verify that this procedure can be helpful. It may or may not require more than a corner of the mouth lift to be successful which I can determine by a picture. (possible nasolabial fold excision as well) These mouth lifting procedures are not covered by medical insurance.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana