Lip Reduction Surgery

Although most patients are interested in augmenting their lips, some patients are interested in making their lips smaller. This is more common in certain ethnic or racial groups and is popular with men and women. Some patients also have lip enlargement due to trauma or having excessive filler placed which doesn't go away.

At the consultation, Mr Kassam will explain the procedure to the patient and discusses how much smaller the lips would be. Being conservative is the key as you can always take away more later but this is infrequent. It is important to to distort the anatomy of the rest of the lip if that is pleasing and to address any asymmetry if required.

Procedure

The procedure can be performed with local anaesthesia alone, with sedation or general anaesthesia and takes about 30minutes per lip. The goal of the procedure is to remove a wedge of skin from the inside of the lip. Mr Kassam will mark your lip prior while you are awake before any local anaesthetic is administered as this will distort the tissues. By placing the incision in this area, the scar will be hidden on the inside of the lip. After the wedge is removed, the area is sutured together which allows the lip to roll back reduce its profile.

Recovery

The recovery is variable but generally takes about a week. Swelling and discomfort are usually moderate although some patients may experience significant swelling which resolves with anti swelling medication. In the early post operative period, patients should refrain from excessive oral function. The sutures will be removed at one week although in some circumstances dissolvable sutures will be utilised.