Question
I had a “lip lift” also known as “upper and lower lip advancement” 2 years ago. To be more specific on what I had: A lip lift is performed to shorten the long lip of aging, allowing the upper teeth to show slightly when the lips are slightly parted. It turns up the upper lip creating a fuller appearance. A wavy ellipse of skin under the nose-lip junction is removed (average 5-7 mm). It involves an incision along the border of the upper lip. Once the incision is made the doctor removes a tiny strip of skin where the upper and lower lip meets. The lip is then pulled taut and stitched into it’s new position. It’s kinda like a face lift where the lip is pulled up. I have small incisional scars around the mouth. The final white scars are difficult to see. (I had the bottom lip done as well.) I have NO implants, injectables or fillers.

MY PROBLEM IS that my scars on my lips feel very hard, tight, firm and obviously very uncomfortable for me. I also have nerve (painful) sensations….(burning/tingling sensations and sensitive to hot and cold temperatures.) My lips obviously move a lot which constantly pulls on the scar and is very uncomfortable which acts as a constant irritant to the scars, causing them to remain irritated, inflamed, etc….It is also annoying because I constantly feel the scar tightness when I talk. Do you know of any solutions that I can do with the scars as in make my lips SOFT, SMOOTH, and to get rid of the sensitivity?? (I have tried all sorts of massaging scar creams (Mederma, Preferon, Scar Zone, etc…) to massage the scar but they do not help.) I have suffered 2 years from this and don’t know what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Answer
To help with the nerve sensation issue I recommend Vitamin B complex. It helps with the re-growth of all nerves. I’d also recommend asking your doctor if there is suture material that is not yet dissolved that may be acting like a foreign material under the skin creating this chronic inflammation. Otherwise, merely massaging the scars with a finger may help, say every hour for a couple minutes. Usually scars soften with that kind of massage therapy.

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