Will Injections Help My Upper Lip Scar/Lumps?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am hoping you can help me with my situation: Long story short, I had my upper lip overfilled with silicone injections years ago and I just underwent a lip reduction two months ago. Now I am left with multiple hard and misshapen lumps on my lip and I am very embarrassed about it, plus they hurt and pull as well. I am looking into some kind of injectable scar lump treatment and you seem to be the Dr. who can do it per my internet searches on the topic. The Dr. who performed my reduction thinks they will go away in time, but these are literal knots in my lips and it is by no means normal. I am worried they will never heal or “settle down”, and don’t want to take a passive route.

A: The interesting question, of course, is what are these lumps in the lip. Having done a lot of lip reductions, such lumps or irregularities are not common or expected. I would have to assume that they represent residual areas of silicone material/scar. I doubt of your lip reduction procedure removed all of the silicone material as the reduction largely removes mucosal tissue while most of the silicone is likely in the orbicularis muscle.

Injectable scar injections are not unreasonable and can have few adverse effects if not overdone. I prefer to use either low dose Kenalog or Kenalog mixed with 5-FU to treat early postoperative scar formation. Whether your lip lumps (residual areas of silicone?) will respond to such injections is uncertain but I can certainly appreciate your concern and desire to be proactive about them.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana