Am I A Good Candidate For Mouth Widening Surgery?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I would like to have my lips lengthened via lateral commissuroplasty to have each corner of my lip come directly under my pupils as I feel my lips are too narrow and not ideal.

A:Thank you for your inquiry and sending your picture. I would certainly agree that your mouth width is small compared to the rest of your facial features. In my experience with mouth widening surgery the primary risk is adverse scarring. In such surgery the scars usually do well out to width increases of 5 to 7mms. Beyond that scarring becomes more of a problem. Based on your picture I would estimate you would need 10mms per side to reach a good mouth width on each side. That puts you at great risk of poor scarring which would be my concern for you.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana