Perhaps you were born with the perfect pretty pout, cute cupid’s bow or luscious lips. Lucky you! That smoocher attracts big attention and not just for kisses — full lips and a broad smile can make your face read as “friendly and approachable” to others.
If you weren’t quite so blessed or if aging has changed the appearance of your lips, schedule a consultation with Robinson Facial Plastic Surgery (RFPS) to learn about the amazing array of options available to plump up that area.
Gimme Some Sugar
As with other areas of the face, the lip and mouth region suffer most from those two recurring aging bandits, stealing the youthful look — loss of volume and wrinkles. Skin texture, environmental elements, shifting fat pockets, diminished collagen and muscle laxity all take a toll. The sweet news is that those pesky little problems have lovely big solutions.
Lip Volume: Whether coated in the most fashionable shade of lipstick or puckered up plainly, those two rosy lips are worth a second look. Lip enhancement treatments have advanced well beyond the severe celebrity experiments once dotting the pages of supermarket tabloids! Now, lips can be given a natural boost with a simple injection. Injectable dermal fillers are administered in the office with just the numbing up of the area and then the use of superfine needle to administer treatment. Yes, it only takes a quick prick for bee-stung beauty to flower across your face. The gentle formulas of the fillers used — Restylane?, Restylane Silk?, Juvederm?, and Juvederm Volbella? — all start with a base of hyaluronic acid, a sugar already present in the skin. Each formulation differs, producing a range of effects. The RFPS team can help guide you toward the treatment right for you.
Marionette Lines: You’re nobody’s puppet on a string, but the corners of your mouth might start showing these creases with loss of volume. Send Pinocchio packing with the aid of dermal fillers, bringing back the softness of youth by adding fullness. For further maintenance of the look, treat the skin to a retinol cream which strengthens the deeper layers of skin and smooths out the superficial layers.
Vertical Lines: Your mother may have warned you about “smoking lines” on your upper lip and she’s right. In addition to a myriad of health problems, habitual cigarette smoking will show up all over your face, including the tender lip area. However, those tiny vertical lines may also result from genetics or the continual pursing of lips, perhaps when stressed, in much the same way a furrowed brow lends itself to forehead creases. Practice some facial relaxation exercises and consider treatments to reduce the appearance of those lines. A thin layer of a filler such as Restylane Silk? can significantly soften those etched lines without getting the telltale “duck look.” Botox? injections might be an effective option to release these wrinkles.
A Daily Smooch
For daily treatment, pay attention to the ingredients in the products used on the lips. Some lipsticks can be very drying, as can some prescriptions, and environmental factors may also cause damage. Heather Davis from our Visage Skin Care Center often recommends SkinCeuticals Antioxidant Lip Repair to refine lip surface and improve lip condition with a powerful, yet gentle, rehydration formula. And, just like the rest of the face and body, protect your lips from the sun — some lip colors may provide enough to protection, but otherwise use a sunscreen balm specifically designed for lips!
Michelle Giglio, PA-C, Advanced Aesthetic Injector, is highly experienced in all types of dermal fillers and serves as a National Trainer for other providers. Her experience and expertise in this area gives patients the confidence in knowing their procedures will be as safe and successful as possible. To learn more about lip enhancement, contact Robinson Facial Plastic Surgery today at 770-667-3090.
