Lip Reduction Surgery

Lip Reduction Surgery

Lip reduction surgery involves removing skin tissues from the lower or upper lips, or sometimes both. This is done in an effort to reshape the entire lip area. 

3 simple steps to lip reduction

Assessment

Our team of surgeons will examine your lips, take a full medical history, listen to your concerns and assess your expectations. Let your surgeons know if you are a smoker as this involves extra precautions for proper healing.

Preoperative Consultation

Our surgeons will decide whether lip reduction is right for you. They will discuss the details of the surgery, including costs, risks and recovery information.

Surgery

Surgery is typically performed using local anesthesia. It takes about an hour to complete. The surgeon first makes an incision along the length of your lip, usually on the inside of the mouth. Next, a strip of tissue is removed before suturing back the incision.

Risks & complications of lip reduction surgery

General surgery risks include anesthesia complications, bleeding and infection. A few additional lip reduction risks include:
  • Asymmetry
  • Numbness (usually temporary)
  • Lumps and excess scar tissue in lips
  • Dissatisfaction with the cosmetic results

Post Operative Care for lip reduction

Immediately after the surgery
  • Your lips may feel sore and tight in the first 24 hours post surgery.
  • During the next few days, you may feel some mild to moderate pain. Your surgeons will prescribe painkillers to help with this discomfort.
  • Swelling and bruising are also to be expected after lip reduction surgery. Icing the area at regular intervals every 2nd hourly may help reduce the swelling in the lips.


The weeks that follow
  • You will have to refrain from vigorous exercise for 3-4 weeks.
  • Our surgeons will likely instruct you to sleep with two pillows to keep your head elevated.
  • Avoid foods with a high acid content — such as oranges and tomatoes — as they may irritate your wounds. Soft foods may be best immediately following your lip reduction surgery.
  • Your surgeons may ask you to rinse with an antiseptic mouthwash multiple times a day to help prevent infection.


Full recovery timeline
  • Excessive pain, redness or pus around the incision sites may be signs of infection. If these occur, contact your surgeons immediately.
  • As the sutures placed are absorbable, suture removal may not be required unless a knot of the suture placed is causing some form of irritation.

You ask, we answer.

If you are in good health and are unhappy with the size, and appearance of the lips, then you may consider lip reduction as the permanent solution for your concerns.



Lip reduction is a safe procedure. Sometimes, it may be associated with bleeding, infection, scarring, granuloma formation, unsatisfactory result etc 

The lip swelling may last 2-8days. The reduction in swelling can be             accelerated by ice compresses. But, in very few instances the swelling may last longer and might require  short term use of oral steroids.

Yes, any person with known history of Herpes, autoimmune and inflammatory conditions may not be the candidate for lip reduction surgery.

Usually this situation doesn’t arise, as we proceed for the reduction after marking the lip and discussing in detail with the patient infront of mirror. But rarely, lip can be re augmented with injectable fillers, if the need be.

The scar after surgery will be on the inner side of the mouth and will not be visible once fully healed. For the first several weeks after surgery, the scar may feel thick and will show normal signs of healing. Once it is fully healed it is almost invisible.

Lip reduction is a simple surgery without major down time, you may resume work in 5-7 days time. You may resume work in 2-3 if it is only online/ supervisory work. Any kind of contact sports or heavy exercises should be abandoned for a period of 4-6 weeks.

Yes, lip reduction surgery can be combined with other facial aesthetic surgeries or other non surgical procedures like botox, injectable fillers for cheeks, nasolabials and thread lifts.