When people consider the effects of aging, an area that isn’t often considered is the lips. The truth is that your lips can lose a lot of tissue as you get older, causing them to look considerably thinner and less prominent on your face.
The good news is that your lips don’t have to stay that way—there are surgical and nonsurgical procedures available to help your lips regain their youthful appearance. Hobgood Facial Plastic Surgery offers three different options, including dermal fillers like JUVÉDERM®, for his Scottsdale patients.
Reshape Your Lips With Dermal Fillers
This is a quick, nonsurgical method of giving your lips a boost. Dermal fillers are capable of doing a number of things to improve the look of your face, including giving your lips a little more volume and even reducing some of the wrinkles around them.
The most common lip fillers are made with hyaluronic acid, a natural chemical found in the body. At Hobgood, we use Restylane®, Radiesse®, and JUVÉDERM to improve the shape, volume, and structure of your lips. These are injected after a mild anesthesia is applied to the area. The effects are not permanent, but they are highly effective and usually don’t need to be repeated more than twice a year.
Take a look at the beautiful results we achieved for one of our patients with Restylane Kysse:
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Add Permanent Volume to Your Lips With Implants
For a time, lip implants were passed over as a method of lip augmentation because they did not appear natural. Recent developments in the world of implants, however, have resulted in the PermaLip implant. This implant is now being used by facial plastic surgeons around the country, making it one of the fastest-growing facial procedures since 2000, according to CBS News.
As a permanent solution to thin lips, the implant is inserted by making two small incisions, one on each side of the lip, and sliding the implant into the tissue. The implants come preformed in a variety of different sizes and shapes to provide better matches to each individual patient.
Make Lips Fuller & Larger With Vermillion Advancement Surgery
Sometimes called a lip lift, this procedure is best suited to patients who have very thin lips that lack any kind of height or definition. As you can see in the before and after pictures below, the surgery basically involves surgically pulling your vermillion tissue (the colored portion of your lips) outward and upward to make your lips fuller and larger. (You can see more lip enhancement surgery before and after pictures in our photo gallery.)
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The surgeon starts by numbing your lips to keep your blood vessels and nerve endings protected during the procedure. He then makes an incision at the place where your vermillion tissue connects to the rest of the soft tissue in your face (also known as the vermillion border). A small amount of skin is removed above and below your lips. The vermillion tissue is then lifted and sutured into place over the same area. The amount of skin removed and the way in which the vermillion is shaped will determine the size and shape of your new lips.
You can learn more about lip lift surgery, including recovery time, in our related blog post.
How Do I Choose the Best Lip Advancement Option for Me?
Your surgeon will go over all your options with you during your patient consultation. They’ll do an examination of the tissues in your lips and surrounding areas, go over your medical history, and talk to you about the kind of results you’re looking for. Once they have all the relevant information, your surgeon will give you a recommendation on the best method of lip advancement for you.
If you are looking for fuller, more appealing lips and considering dermal fillers or plastic surgery in the Phoenix area, we’re always happy to talk with you about your options. To schedule a lip advancement consultation with Dr. Hobgood, call us at (480) 214-9955 or request a consultation online. Dr. Hobgood specializes in surgical and nonsurgical procedures for the head, face, and neck and is nationally recognized for his outstanding results with his patients.
I had gortex put into my lips in the 90s and the top lip swelled so much it broke leaving my lip lopsided. The bottom has shrunk on one side making my bottom lip pulled in on one side. My question is can it be removed without damage to my lips? Thank you!
Gore Tex is a synthetic implant, made to specifically allow for the ingrowth of tissues from the patient’s own lips. This was done to prevent migration and also infection as the immunologic system can access the implant. Unfortunately, it makes it virtually impossible to remove the implant without also removing some of the tissues that have grown into the implant. You can be removed, but it is involving some significant risk to loss of your natural tissues, unfortunately.