After Three Laser Facials, Still See Fine Lines Around my Mouth

Many, but Not all lines and wrinkles can be removed with laser. Skin laxity and volume must also be addressed. A good laser resurfacing procedure that is appropriate for you can take off many wrinkles. Some lifting and or volume restoration of the skin may also be necessary.

Lines around the mouth are called "Smoker's lines" in many parts of the country, but in Utah where we have the lowest incidence of smoking in the nation, we call them "Whistle lines".  These lines form in response to repeated contraction of the circular muscle surrounding the mouth called the orbicularis oris.  These lines can be very difficult to treat, especially when deep.  A superficial laser, the kind you probably received, is just not... more

Wrinkles are a property of the dermis.  Any type of peel that you would be doing as a series is almost certainly not getting into your dermis at all.  A peel such as that is taking off the top part of the epidermis, which grows back, then you peel it again, it grows back, and so on.  As you can see, the only thing this type of peel affects is the epidermis over and over, but the wrinkle is in the dermis. You need a single aggressive peel to address wrinkles.  At... more

Laser Peels or Laser Facials are a superficial laser treatment that is intended to build collagen slowly. The best use of laser facials is for maintenance or for subtle improvement.  To correct the lip lines, you may need a more intense laser treatment such as laser resurfacing or profractional.

  The fact that you had 3 laser peels means that they were very superficial peels and not likely strong enough to remove mouth lines. Newer Combined laser resurfacing which uses both a non-ablative fractional 1540 Erbium and an ablative 2940 fractional Erbium at the same time, provides the deepest and most effective improvement in lines around the lips and cheeks. Even with excellent laser resurfacing results around the mouth, wrinkles persist. This is because the pursing muscles of... more

With resurfacing it takes time for the collagen to repair and help decrease more wrinkles or so most people say. In my experience, the results that you get the first month is likely the most noticeable and after that the results are more subtle with the "naked eye". When done on a more aggressive scale, you will notice more improvement more early on such as a month or two. 12 months is a little long in my opinion to notice much more difference. In terms of the lip lines, you might... more

Lip lines "smoker's lines" can be reduced with laser resurfacing, or with augmentation of lip volume. Depending on the type of "laser facial" you received, you may be at the limit of what can safely be done with resurfacing techniques without causing whiteness or an abnormal shiny appearance due to dermal architecture destruction. Lip augmentation with temporary hyaluronic acid filler or more permanently with fat injection or LiveFill (nontraumatized fascial fat grafts)... more