Lip lift pre-op markings

A Lip lift is a plastic surgery procedure that shortens the distance between the top border of the upper lip and the bottom (base) of the nose.

 It creates a fuller, younger looking top lip by increasing the amount of “pink lip” and better exposing teeth when smiling and speaking.

The Lip lift will result in a more pleasing appearance to the face. Look at the ‘before and after’ photo above and you can see that the patient has a more youthful and pleasant expression following the surgery. A lip lift can indeed even transform your overall expression.

The key to a successful Lip lift are the pre-op surgical markings. This post aims to help patients understand what the markings represent.

Lip lift surgical technique is to cut and lift skin only

My lip lift technique involves skin only and does not include manipulation or transection of muscle. I believe that involving the muscle  introduces an unnecessary risk of injury to the nerves.

I believe that involving the muscle introduces an unnecessary risk of injury to the nerves.

The ‘skin only’ technique achieves a consistent, dependable,  and desirable outcome.  In addition, since the procedure involves skin only, there is extremely little risk in changes to how your lips, mouth, and nose move following the surgery.

Over the past few years I have seen a number of patients whose lip lift was performed by other surgeons with techniques involving the muscle.

Some of these patients had complications which are difficult to correct. By using the ‘skin only’ technique, I have not encountered these complications.  For this reason, I am a firm believer of the ‘skin only’  technique.

All lip lift patients meet twice with Dr. Rodriguez

I meet with all of my Lip lift patients twice in person. The first time is the in person consult, which can be the day before surgery. The second time is the morning of surgery.

At the initial in person meeting I make an estimate of the amount of tissue we expect to remove. I draw it on a surgical plan. The morning of surgery is always the second time that I have measured the amount of tissue to be removed.

Having two in person meetings prior to surgery allows me to confirm the measurements that we have discussed. There is no margin for error in these measurements.

Lip lifts: Measure many times, cut once

On the morning of surgery, we are re-measuring to confirm the amount of skin to be removed. Meeting with the patient twice in person is a MUST. The first inperson meeting can be the day prior to the surgery. However, it is important that the patient has at least overnight to consider the measurement that we have discussed!

meeting with the patient twice in person is a must! – Dr. Rodriguez

I use markings to make sure the final result is symmetric, reducing the space between the upper lip and the base of the nose by the same exact amount along the entire length of the upper lip.

Based on patient input and our review of the plan, I make surgical markings between the nose and the upper lip as we sit in front of a mirror together.

Lip lift markings are detailed

The markings that I make are fairly detailed.  If you don’t know what to expect, it might be  a little overwhelming.  For this reason I decided to make a short video clip of the surgical markings done on a  patient.

This patient below was being prepped for an upper lip lift and after completing the surgical plan markings, she graciously allowed me to take this quick video to explain the pre-op markings. Hopefully this video will help patients understand the markings and be more confident that these markings are part of the normal process.

I use detailed markings to make sure the final result is symmetric. – Dr. Rodriguez

For this particular patient, the surgical plan was to have the final distance from bottom of nose to top of upper lift vermillion (the red part) equal to 1.2 cm , or 12 mm.

So there you have an explanation of my pre-op markings for a lip lift!

Learn more about the procedure itself, about my surgical technique, or about how a Lip lift might help you avoid duck lips that can sometimes occur with fillers.

The secret to a successful lip lift is to properly plan the surgery during pre-op and to keep things simple. See our results in the Lip lift gallery!

(originally published May 21, 2018)