Lip lift or cheilopexy is a procedure for shortening of the upper lip.
With aging the upper lip loses its volume and becomes longer, more elongated which means that the distance between the nasal base and upper lip vermillion border is too big. The lips invert and hide the visibility of the upper teeth (dental hooding) when stationary, which leads towards the decrease of vermillion height.
In the younger population, it can represent a congenitally long philtra (mid-section of the upper lip).
‘Ideal’ lip lift should restore the youthful pout, restore dental show (exposure) or upper incisor height and increase visible vermillion.
There are two main operation types for the upper lip lift:
- Direct upward lift of the vermillion – a thin skin strap is cut off and the lip is lifted to look thicker. This kind of procedure is used rarely as it leaves a visible scar.
- ”Bull horn’’ resection –resection of the subnasal skin in a shape of bull horns with a minimal scarring. This procedure and the variations of it are most frequently used today.
Operation is performed under local anaesthesia and it is virtually painless. The skin strap is resected, previously agreed with the patient, then the skin is undermined and the margins sutured. During the procedure the patient is actively involved and checks the size of resection and dental show in real time. The advised resection is between four and twelve millimetres and from three to four for dental show.
Complications are possible, but quite mild. Bruising and upper lip swelling and minor pain is possible. Infections, bleeding, small area of wound separation or minor loss of lip lift are quite rare. Later, if we find out that the resection is insufficient, it is always possible to correct it. That is not possible in case of too big a resection.
POSTOPERATIVE CARE:
Patients are discharged with advice to refrain from smoking for two weeks, take pain medication when necessary, avoid excessive chewing, and clean incisions with diluted hydrogen peroxide, followed by antibiotic ointment dressing twice daily for one week.
Patients are also told to take arnica montana tablets, sleep elevated on two or three pillows, and apply cool moist gel compresses to help mitigate swelling, bruising, and discomfort.
The skin sutures are removed a week after the procedure.
