Vertical lip lines are a result of repeated movement (eg. pursing of the lip during pronunciation of certain words like "ohhh", whistling, kissing, smoking etc.) and loss of elastic tissue from sun-damage that occurs over many years.
With skilled injections of fine fillers, these verticle lip lines can be improved. I usually prefer one of the collagen products for this area. Fine hyaluronic acid fillers can work well too but if placed too superficially can lead to a bluish tinge (tindle effect). Too much filler will make the entire upper cutaneous lip look full.
Combining filler with Botox of the upper lip can be very successfull if done properly. For longer term results, laser resurfacing of the vertical lip lines can achieve very dramatic results but must be done cautiously, especially if there is a lot of background photo-bronzing.
