At 41, Kelly Knight is the grandmother of two and she’s also proud of another accomplishment – a 55-pound weight loss she has kept off for nearly three years.

That’s when aesthetic surgeon Dr. David Jansen fixed some old surgery scars and excess skin on her abdomen.

It instantly changed her confidence.

“A lot better about myself,” Knight said. “I feel like I accomplish more things now. Like I started school. I work now. I do things I never wanted to do before.”

Now she comes back from home in Bayou Blue near Raceland for something else.

“When he told me about this, I was like, ‘Yes! I’ll do it,’ ” Knight said.

Knight tried injections to plump up her thinning lips and liked what she saw, but wanted something permanent to save money and time from maintenance of regular injections. Jansen said this request usually comes from women 30-to-50.

“Usually someone who has either finished off child rearing and has lost a lot of that weight and with that change in weight and that change in hormonal status, they lose – a lot of women – lose volume in their lips,” Jansen said.

Remember, too, sun and tanning booths cause the natural collagen in the lips to go away, and smoking even causes more problems and wrinkling. So, Jansen is using a new permanent implant.

What makes this different from the older ones made of medical fibers used to repair heart valves or hernias is this one is expandable like a balloon.

“And that’s the genius of it, is that it’s soft and ballottable and you can,” Jansen said. “It’s difficult to tell when someone has this kind of implant.”

It’s called the Fulfil Lip implant – and injection blocks the nerves so there is no pain. Then, in a quick office procedure, it is implanted through two small incisions on the inner corners of the lip.

Once it is in place, the patient decides how full he or she wants to go and the doctor adds the amount of saline making the lips the style the patient wants – just a little more volume all the way to very Hollywood plump.

Some doctors want to see a longer track record, though.

“I think it’s going to be OK, but still, personally, I have an issue with any kind of material that is not natural in the lip because the lip is a mobile part of the face and anything that continuously moves if you put anything that is not alive in it is going to show its effect later on,” said Dr. Kamran Khoobehi, a plastic surgeon with LSU Health Sciences Center.

Added Dr. Mary Lupo, a Tulane dermatologist, “If you’re putting these implants too low, you can actually sometimes see them you smile.”

Said Metairie dermatologic surgeon Dr. William P. Coleman III, “Your lips change with aging, the implant does not change. So, later on, you have altered your appearance, the implant is staying the same and it doesn’t match anymore and so it looks unnatural.”

Janson said that’s why he chooses patients carefully.

“But, worst case scenario, if a woman’s face Is aging around these gorgeous lips and it looks out of balance, then we simply make a tiny little incision, slip the implant out and put either a smaller one in or use fillers,” he said.

Jansen said nationally, about 4 percent of people have had other types of implants removed for allergic reactions. Smokers who don’t heal well can get an infection right after surgery, making the implant poke out, needing to be removed.

And while some doctors are concerned that the lip implant may harden in an area that needs to constantly move, Jansen said massaging them right after surgery can fix that problem. But what concerns him the most is people trying to save a dollar.

“I am seeing unmitigated disasters coming in,” Jansen said. The usual story is a friend told a friend to go to this woman who’s injecting in her house or a hotel room in the quarter and they are using some unknown substance that will last forever and looks perfect.”

That’s why you should always consult a physician board certified in this type of procedure, as Knight did.

The cost of implants in the top and bottom lip ranges from $2,000 to $2,500.

Next year, a new version of the lip implant will come out that lets doctors keep changing the amount of saline in them as styles change.