Cosmetic Procedures - Lip Enhancement - After Surgery

Only antibiotic ointment is used on the lip and suture lies with no other dressings needed. There is very minimal postoperative discomfort with any of the procedures. More swelling is associated with lip implants than those with skin excision or resurfacing. Bruising is rarely seen. By three weeks after surgery, however, most of the swelling is gone and the result evident. Lip sutures are removed after one week. Lipstick may be worn again after the first week. In resurfacing, the treated areas of the lip must be kept moist with antibiotic ointment. Once healed, it will take several months for the redness of the treated skin to fade.

Complications with lip implants (synthetic) are more frequent than with lip advancement/lifts due to the indwelling material. These include the potential for unnatural palpability lip stiffness, and infection. When these occur, removal of the implant may be needed. In collagen-based implants, the only risk is for partial or complete resorption of the material. In fat injections, most of the fat eventually atrophies and retained lip volume may be unpredictable. For lip advancements/lifts, the only issue is the potential for adverse scarring which seems to be very uncommon. In resurfacing by either laser or chemical agents, pre- and postoperative anti-viral medication needs to be taken to prevent outbreak of herpetic lip infections, even if the patient has never had a prior eruption.