Local anaesthesia in, sutures out by day 7, socially easy in a week — with a stiff-smile chapter in the middle nobody warns you about. Here's the whole calendar.
Swelling peaks day 2–3; the lip previews higher and fuller than your final result. Eat from day one (smaller bites, nothing scorching); straws are fine — that rumour belongs to dentistry. Head slightly elevated at night.
Suture removal day 5–7 in clinic, before your flight. Conversation-distance comfortable for most by the end of week one; desk work resumes easily.
The classic surprise: your smile feels restrained while swelling and early healing tension resolve. Temporary, known, loosens week by week. Makeup covers the line from now; kissing rejoins at ~2–3 weeks.
The lip descends from its swollen preview into the planned position; numb patches under the nose recalibrate; full exercise returns.
Lip position is judged at month 2–3; the scar's pale-line verdict belongs to 12–18 months under SPF and silicone. Photo reviews run through both.
No general anaesthetic to recover from, no drains, no hospital night — the surgical footprint is a few square centimetres under local. The trip is 5–7 days mostly so we can watch the early days and remove sutures, not because you'll feel unwell.
Asymmetric early swelling, a tight morning, a crust that looks dramatic — recovery's small anxieties get photo-review answers from Dr. Erdal directly, at home or here.
SPF 50 on the scar, every day it sees daylight. UV permanently darkens immature scars — sunscreen is the cheapest part of a beautiful result.
The calendar above describes the ordinary course. Recovery also has a short list of things that run against it — and the only skill required of you is noticing a curve that moves the wrong way. Photo reviews reach Dr. Erdal directly, at home or here; nothing on this list is a reason to wait for the next scheduled check.
Normal: swelling peaks around day 2–3, then recedes week by week, and mornings are tighter than evenings. Message today: a curve going the other way — day five noticeably worse than day three — rather than settling.
Normal: a pink incision line, a crust that looks more dramatic than it is, and mild asymmetry between the two sides early on. Message today: redness extending away from the line, skin that feels hot, or a temperature — send a photograph rather than a description.
Normal: a trace of oozing in the first day or two, and sutures that look untidy before they come out on day 5–7. Message today: bleeding that continues through gentle pressure, or any point along the line that separates or loses a stitch early.
Normal: numb or tingly skin under the nose and a restrained smile through weeks 2–3, both recalibrating as swelling leaves. Message today: the same sensations deepening after the first few weeks rather than fading — the direction of travel is the whole signal.
Normal: an over-lifted, fuller preview for the first weeks; the lip descends into its planned position by weeks 4–8. Raise it at the month 2–3 review: asymmetry still visible once swelling has genuinely resolved belongs in that conversation, with photographs, rather than in private worry.
Most of these messages end in reassurance, and that is the expected outcome rather than a waste of anyone's time — aftercare here is a conversation that follows you home, not a leaflet. The risks behind each line are set out in full on the surgery page; the scar's own calendar lives on the scar page. Individual results vary, and this page is general information rather than instructions for your case, which come from your own consultation.
Send your dates — the calendar answer comes back with suture-removal and photo-milestone maths included.
Message Dr. Erdal