Lately, my patients have been quite educated about the various techniques that surgeons use for the Lip Lift procedure. Recently a patient asked me if my technique would cut muscle or nerves. This is a good question and I would like readers to know that my technique does NOT cut muscle or nerves! In summary, this is a description of the Lip lift technique that I have been using for many years:
- An incision is made at the base of the nose in the natural ridge between lip skin and nasal skin.
- Skin is elevated only to the level where preoperative markings were made, leaving the muscle intact.
- We spread muscle fibers at 5 points to reach the membrane covering the septum and nasal bones. Three tunnels are made centrally: one through the septum and the other two on either side of i, corresponding to the middle and ridges of the philrum in the upper lip. One tunnel at the outer border of the nostrils.
- The sutures are tied to the underside of the lip skin. The sutures do not tie muscle, and do not tie nerves. There is no cutting of any structure once we cut skin.