{"id":20965,"date":"2021-10-11T13:10:51","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T20:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https://www.realself.com\/news\/?p=20965"},"modified":"2023-10-12T16:40:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T23:40:53","slug":"signs-of-a-great-lip-lift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https://www.realself.com\/news\/signs-of-a-great-lip-lift","title":{"rendered":"5 Signs of a Stellar Lip Lift, According to Facial Plastic Surgeons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plastic surgeons have been publishing<\/a> their experiences with lip lift<\/a> surgery since the early 1980s, but only within the past five years has the procedure firmly embedded itself in the beauty zeitgeist. Doctors credit social media with boosting the lip lift’s profile, just as it has those of other once obscure surgical tweaks, like buccal fat removal<\/a>. <\/p>

During a lip lift, surgeons remove a bullhorn-shaped strip of skin from just below the nose, to shorten the space between the base of the nose and the upper lip—“that is the number one primary goal and the only thing we can really control during surgery,” says Dr. Gary Linkov<\/a>, a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in New York City. Reducing the length of the philtrum—the groove atop your Cupid’s bow, which elongates with age—balances the proportions of the midface, for a more youthful look.<\/p>

While the lip lift is often promoted as a lip-filler alternative—a means of rolling up the vermillion border, to evert and enhance the top lip without injections—this subtle plump is really more “a side effect of shortening the philtrum,” points out Dr. Linkov. The same is true for the improved tooth show touted by lip lift proponents. Ideally, “you want to see around two to three millimeters of upper tooth show with the lips in repose,” notes Dr. Catherine S. Chang<\/a>, a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California. But both of our experts stress that they generally cannot guarantee that sexy sliver of incisors post-op. While “odds are, there will be some improvement in tooth show,” Dr. Linkov explains, if the patient has short teeth and\/or a generous amount of red lip, “sometimes the inner mucosa of the lip will still cover the teeth after surgery.”<\/p>

And when individual anatomy sways the particulars of a procedure to such an extent, outcomes can vary. So then, what exactly are the markers of a successful lip lift? Here, our surgeons share key aspects to look for in lip lift before-and-afters. <\/p>

Interested in lip lift?<\/small><\/div>Find Doctors Near You<\/a><\/div>

1. A proportional philtrum<\/h2>

If you’ve never before pondered the precise number of millimeters separating your nose from your mouth, you’re probably not alone. But there are plenty of folks “who feel like their proportions are off—whether it’s an aging thing or they’re born that way, they just feel like their midface is too long and attracts too much attention,” says Dr. Linkov. What is “too long”? A female philtrum is said to fall in the range of 11–13 millimeters—but textbook averages rarely account for ethnic variations or the significant shifts that occur with age. <\/p>

During surgery, “you typically don’t want to go shorter than 11 millimeters,” says Dr. Chang. Moreover, trying to bring an exceptionally long philtrum into textbook range is usually not a great idea. “I’ve worked on philtrums as long as 28 or 29 millimeters,” says Dr. Linkov, “and for those people, if I take 10-plus millimeters, it distorts them too much—it’s such a major change, even at the longer philtral lengths, and I prefer not to do anything that drastic.” While the amount of tissue he removes depends on the patient’s starting measurement, he typically carves out between four and six millimeters for the most harmonious effect, with eight millimeters being his upper limit.<\/p>

<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/path><\/g><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/div>
View this post on Instagram<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/a>

A post shared by Dr. Catherine Chang (@catchangmd)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>