Total Body Surgical Blog

Do your lips look like you've been sucking on a sour pickle, even when you haven't??  Did you used to smoke (back when it was cool) and have the lips to prove it now??  

This is a common problem that we see every day.  It aggravates you when you look in the mirror and makes you self conscious.  The cause of the problem is usually from multiple factors.  Bad habits can cause it such as smoking or using a straw too much.  Another big factor is UV exposure from sun.  The biggest factors, however, are those you can't control, i.e., genetics and ageing.  As we get older, not only do we lose fat from our face, but also from the lips.  Young lips look full and have a great shape for some,

as in this picture.  The lip is full, both upper and lower, with a nice shape and good cupids bow on the upper.  Lips like these are what most women want.  Others are born with thin lips that have little shape to them...

Not that there is anything wrong with them but they do lack fullness.  Obviously, this is genetics at work and there is not much that you can do about where you start.

In general, as we age, we lose fat in our faces.  Of course, the lips, being a part of the face, lose volume too.

They begin to thin and start losing their shape with time and literally everyone starts developing vertical lip lines around the mouth.  The muscles surrounding the mouth are purse string type muscles that allow us to pucker, and muscles that pull the corners of the lip up or down.

As you can see from the names, there are a lot of depressors that pull the corners of the lip down.  All of these muscles, over the years, and with millions of facial expression, all in which the mouth is so active, wrinkles in the skin begin to form.  We all get the nasolabial folds as the cheek "deflates" and most get marrionette lines as well.  The vertical lip lines are almost always present as we age too but to varying degrees of severity.

Here you see nasolabial folds.

Marrionette lines

How do we treat these things?  

There are several methods to treat these bothersome lines and dents.

First...avoidance.  If you are a young person with great lips and no or few lines, don't smoke and use good skin care practices.  Avoid sun exposure on your face too.  Good prevention may slow the process or at least you will avoid these common problems starting early.

Second, Botox and Fillers.  Botox can be used around the mouth if you have an experienced injector.  If the lines are not too bad, you can soften them or erase them with Botox.  Again, not every injector is trained to use Botox around the mouth and lower face so make sure yours has experience in those areas.

Fillers, such as Juvederm, Radiesse, and Silikon 1000 are great tools to soften the wrinkles and lines when Botox is not enough.  Fillers add volume so the skin is filled back out and the wrinkle de-emphasized.

The last of the minimally invasive techniques is the laser.  We use the Pearl laser to force the skin to make more collagen and in doing this, the skin tightens and reduces wrinkles.  It takes about a week to recover from and may require more than one treatment to get the result you want.  It is effective and costs about $600 for the lip area and $1200 total, for the entire face.

I usually recommend augmenting the lips too and do this with silikon 1000.  It is a slow correction that works great and can give you the lips you've always wanted. 

Come see us today by calling 918-786-7780 or 1-877-weight-0.

We can certainly help get the sour look off around the lips.

Looking forward to it!!