When and Why to Choose Fillers for Your Lips

Over the past 25 years, hyaluronic acid-based fillers have become the most commonly used and effective injectable cosmetic treatment option for reducing facial lines and enhancing soft tissue volume. There is a wide range of fillers available depending on the anatomic area and the desired effect. The lips and the peri-oral skin are commonly treated areas. Depending on the patient, there may be several reasons for seeking filler treatment for the lips.

Often, the goal of a lip filler is to provide increased volume in the body of the lips. Fillers are very effective in providing a natural-looking improvement in overall lip volume, whether lip thinness is due to normal aging of lips over time or simply genetics. Lip body volume enhancement can be very subtle or dramatic, depending on the patient’s desires. Other times the goal is to increase the definition of the lip border. Injections in the lip border reduce the blurriness of
the lip-to-skin junction. This approach gives the lips more “pop” and reduces “lipstick lines” in more mature patients.

Injecting filler into the tissue surrounding the lips is another method of enhancing the lip area. Many patients find that their lip corners turn downward over time due to aging. Fillers are a natural-appearing and effective way to provide an up-turn to the corners of the mouth. In addition, fillers are often used to diminish vertical lines above and below the lips. Depending upon the patient’s needs, more than one of the above injection techniques may be employed to achieve the desired effect. In all cases, lip filler treatments are planned to provide a natural and individualized cosmetic enhancement.