Lips are one of the easiest areas to treat with fillers. Understanding what makes lips beautiful is helpful in obtaining great results. However, the "ideal lip" as often described in dermatology literature may not be achievable in all patients, so achieving a nice, natural look should be your goal.
For example, ideally the lips should be divided into 1/3 upper and 2/3 lower; that is, the upper lip is slightly smaller than the lower. However, on some faces this may not look natural at all for their facial shape and contour, so be wary of trying to make everyone fit into a single box.
As with any filler injection, combining the artist's eye behind the syringe as well as the patient's eye for what they desire is the key to achieving successful lip augmentation.
Although we are taught that fillers like Restylane and Juvederm last 6-9 months, I find that Restylane actually lasts 1 year to 16 months; new studies will be published to support these findings. Although you never hear this from inexperienced injectors, it is obvious that when injected correclty, this product lasts longer than reported.
Moreover, last week I removed some improperly-placed fillers from a patient's lip (injected by another physician) that was placed 1.5 years ago and still persisted because it was placed too superficially. So be aware that individual results do vary!
- Please check physician credentials (are they dermatologists/plastic surgeons/ facial plastic surgeons - skin experts and facial experts)
- Look at photos of real patients injected by your physisican (not the ones the company releases and everyone puts on their websites of the best results the company has ever seen performed by some other injector).
Healthy skepticism and knowledgeable patients will be welcome in any worthy physician's office and will help to ensure successful, great looking filler results!
