A pleasing cosmetic appearance is all about balance and proportion. If you feel your lips are not in balance with your face in terms of fullness and/or shape, lip augmentation can help when lip liner and artful makeup application just aren’t doing the trick anymore.
Adding Volume With Lip Augmentation
Collagen is the elastic material that gives your skin fullness. As you age, your body’s natural collagen starts to break down. This can cause increased wrinkling and make your skin appear less plump and smooth particularly under your eyes and on your lips. Sun exposure or simply genetics also may cause your lips to take on a wrinkled appearance. If you find you have lost volume in your lips over time, lip augmentation may help to restore it. The extra volume can help you to achieve younger-looking lips because fuller lips often appear softer and suppler.
If you never had lip volume to begin with, that’s okay, too. Lip augmentation can help to correct thin or flat lips. If you have one lip that appears fuller than the other, such as a seemingly non-existent upper lip, lip augmentation can help your upper lip appear more proportional.
Re-Shaping Your Lips With Lip Augmentation
Lip augmentation is often considered an art because your plastic surgeon can use fillers to adjust the shape and appearance of certain areas of your lips. For example, if you have an area that appears to droop, your surgeon can fill this area to correct it.
In some instances, lip augmentation is a corrective procedure. If you have experienced a traumatic injury to your lips, lip augmentation can help to correct changes to your lip shape. Lip augmentation also may be used to improve the appearance of your lips if you have experienced cleft lip-palate, which can affect your mouth’s appearance. Insurance will sometimes cover corrective procedures of this nature, helping to offset costs.
Reducing Wrinkles With Lip Augmentation
Lip augmentation can address more than just the shape or fullness of your lips. You also may wish to choose lip augmentation if you have wrinkles and lines around your lips due to loss of lip fullness. When you lose volume in your lips, this can create a sagging appearance around your mouth, which can have an aging effect. By increasing lip volume, you may also be able to smooth out the areas around your lips. While lip augmentation may not reverse all wrinkling around your mouth, it may help to reduce some noticeability.
How Lip Augmentation Works
Unless you opt for more invasive lip implants, most lip augmentation procedures involve injecting a plumping material into your lips. Commonly injected materials include hyaluronic acid or collagen. To perform this procedure, your physician will first examine your lips to determine the best place to inject the material. Two common locations are at the top of your lip, where the skin from under your nose meets your lip, or at the area where your lips touch each other.
Your physician will likely apply a topical numbing cream such as lidocaine to the area to make the procedure as painless as possible. He or she will then inject a small amount of the filler into your lips, massaging the area to ensure the product is evenly distributed. This also helps to keep lumps from forming that can make the procedure appear less natural.
Following lip augmentation, you can expect to experience some redness and swelling that should subside within a few days. The results from the injection can last anywhere from a month to a year.
If you desire more long-lasting results, you can talk to your physician about options such as harvesting fat from your body or putting in small, plastic implants to your lips. These forms of lip augmentation can have permanent results, but can be more invasive and require a longer recovery period. Talk to your physician about your overall goals for lip augmentation, including how long you hope the implants will last to determine the best option for you.