Treatment options for thin lips, lip and mouth area Injections, Lasers, dermal fillers and Surgery

Rejuvenation of mouth area is a prime concern for many cosmetic patients.
Dermal fillers are very popular but unfortunately are often applied for the wrong reasons and provide a ‘ done appearance’ such as a trout pout or a joker face.
Too much filler in the lips without attention to surrounding area can also give an unbalanced look. Often we have to do treatment of nose to mouth lines and marionette lines together to maintain facial harmony.

So here are the techniques we use -

1] Botulinum toxins- to help reduce lip lines and to elevate corners of mouth. On its own this is a limited treatment. It is best to combine this with dermal fillers.

2] Dermal fillers- We never use permanent fillers. Restylane, belotero, emervel or juvederm are a great choice for filling out lips to increase volume, to increase lip definition and to provide soft, well hydrated lips. These are natural, soft, resorbable fillers. These treatment aspects can be combined or achieved in isolation. You could only have well hydrated lips without significant volume if you are happy with the size and just want to improve the texture and feel. So how much filler is enough? We suggest no more than 1 syringe for your initial lip treatment and then you can have more later once the initial swelling has settled. Also it is best to allow some recovery time after having lip fillers to allow for swelling or bruising.

3] CO2 laser resurfacing. Smokers lines around the lips can be filled but too much filler shows through and gives the secret away. Deep lines here are best treated with CO2 laser resurfacing. This literally erases these lines in exchange for a recovery period. This is only suitable for lighter skin. For Asian or Mediterranean skin types fractional resurfacing is possible.

4] Lip lift procedure. With increasing age the length of upper lip increases. Gravity not only causes sagging lower face and neck, it can elongate the upper lip too. More filler can make this condition worse. A Lip lift procedure however restores the original length of the upper lip. This is a surgical procedure done under pure local anaesthesia.

5] Lip reduction. Large lips can be reduced to correct asymmetry or to reduce size of lips.

6] Lip hydration. This procedure moisturises the lips from within. A very low viscosity filler is used to relieve cracked and dehydrated lips without a notable increase in the lip volume.

Treatment pictures. Real patient results of rejuvenation of lips and mouth area from Coltishall Cosmetic Clinic

This lady had lost her lip volume, definition and also noticed lines around her lips similar to 'smokers' lines. She was treated with HA dermal filler under local anaesthesia. Notice the improvement in all aspects, lip volume, lip definition and complete eradication of her 'lipstick bleed lines'.
This lady requested volume restoration and enhancement of lip borders. Excellent results achieved with Restylane dermal filler
Upper lip lines treated with CO2 laser resurfacing. This lady was disappointed with results of her filler treatment carried out elsewhere. She requested an alternative to avoid a 'done look'. She was treated with aggressive CO2 laser resurfacing and was very pleased with the outcome.
Elongated upper lip was shortened and lifted with a liplift procedure. Lines around the mouth were treated with CO2 Laser resurfacing to rejuvenate the mouth area. Notice the lifted upper lip with shortening of distance between nose and cupids bow.