Atticus had his first lip reduction surgery on June 18, 2014. His plastic surgeon removed tissue from the inside of his bottom lip, tightened up some stretched out muscles, and stitched up the incision with three layers of stitches. Over time, the scar tissue may help to curl the lip upward. The focus of this lip reduction was on the inside of the lip. Atticus will need other procedures done to the outside of the bottom lip and possibly more surgeries for the inside of his lip.
Atticus spent one night in the hospital. He ate and drank with no problems after surgery. It is really amazing how well he is able to eat post-surgery. Nothing gets between Atticus and his food! Because he ate and drank so well, and was responding to the pain medication, we were able to go back to Charlotte the next day.
Of course, as with any surgery, the bottom lip is currently swollen. It usually takes a few weeks for all of the swelling to go away. Once all of the swelling is gone, we will be able to see the true results of the surgery. It may take a month or so for all of the stitches to fall out too.
Atticus had quite a bit of pain in the days following surgery, but now he is almost off pain medicine. He is pretty much back to his normal self. Every once in a while he points to his lip and says, “It hurts.” But that is usually when we are cleaning it or applying Normlgel to it.
So far the healing process is going very smoothly. Atticus is not bothering the stitches. The only things we really need to do are clean the lip with sterile medical sponges after meals, apply Bacitracin twice daily for about one week, and apply Normlgel as needed to keep the lip moist.
We are eager to see the true results in about a month!
The Grateful Mother 
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