Cosmetic Question: How long does it take to fully recover after you have permanent lip implants are put in?
Cosmetic Answer:
We recently had a lip implant patient and she came back every week. She was prone to cold sores, so we had her take Valtrex during her healing period.
• At surgery, we also gave her antibiotic (Keflex) to reduce bacterial infection. She took arnica on her own, but she didn’t think it made any difference.
• There was a tiny bit of bruising, that was gone in a week. After a week, however, she couldn’t purse her lips, she had to eat with a spoon and she couldn’t drink from a bottle. Her lips were swollen and felt tight. Smiling was very difficult. This procedure in particular was done in winter. As a result, her lips chapped a lot and needed constant use of lip balm.
• By 3 weeks, she could smile normally, eat normally, and open her mouth wide, but drinking from a bottle was still difficult. At this point her lips could purse, but not as tightly as normal.
• At 4 weeks, everything was back to normal except she still had a little sense of tightness in the lip and a few small areas of numbness along the outer part of the upper lip.
• At 6 weeks, apart from tiny numb spots and some persistent chapping – which cleared by temporarily increasing her Valtrex – everything was normal.
She was sociable with a lot of friends. “It’s funny,” she said, “They have known me for years. They see I look different but they can’t tell how. They keep saying, “Golly, you look great. What have you done! We love your hair.” She kept her secret to herself, telling us, “I finally have lips! I love it.”
She had small lips and a medium implant. She felt it was perfect for her.