Best options to reduce the lip size Risk factors & cost involved in them – Dr. Surindher D S A

Many people complain of problems with the lip size. They complain of either the lower lip is too big or when they are talking it is causing the problems. It is often noticed by other people rather than the patients themselves. A few reasons can be attributed to it. One is people who have a larger lip tend to have problem of dryness of the lip and they are biting them, so that is what causes more irritation and then it becomes a habit. Some people have an inborn problem where the lip is little larger or the lip is turned outside. So the inner mucosa which has to be normally wet gets exposed and becomes dry. Because it is dry you tend to bite on it and that adds to the problem. The only option is to surgically reduce it. Surgery is done from inside the mouth. There are no scars outside. It is done inside of the mouth where we remove a part of the mucosa which is the lining of the lip and we remove a part of the muscle and we roll it up so that the lip is turned inwards and that is what brings the dry mucosa out and brings the wet mucosa back in because of which your irritation and problems will reduce and of course it reduce the size. There is always a limit to which we can reduce because a very thin lip will give you a very mean look. We don’t want to do that. So we try and reduce it by grades and we try not to overdo it. If you always want to do more you can go in and do it but if you remove a lot of lip then you cannot recreate or add more lip tissue there. The procedure itself is usually done under local anaesthesia. The stitches are out after a week. The complete healing takes place anywhere between six to eight weeks for things to become normal and lips to become soft. Depending upon where you do it and who is doing the cost can range anywhere about 15,000 upwards if you are doing both the lips. The upper lip and the lower lip both can be done depending upon what the problem is. We have to identify the problem and do as it is required for the patient. So it is always better to do a conservative reduction of the lip rather than an aggressive reduction because if it becomes too thin it gives you a very mean look and secondly if it becomes too thin you might have problems with closing of the mouth and speech. So always be conservative when you are doing a lip reduction.