Plump Lips Without the Duck Bill Look

Some patients actually could benefit more from a lift lift instead of a lip augmentation. If the distance from the root (base) of your nose to the upper vermillion border (red part) of your lip is too long, any amount of filler WILL result in duck lips.
Another indication for a lip lift: If when you open you mouth slightly--and your upper teeth do not show--you are likely a candidate for a lip lift.
The lip lift procedure is a 1-2 hour procedure performed in my procedure room under local anesthesia.

I love doing lip enhancement procedures as it can be done on my patients that are 20 or my patients that are 60 years old.  There is no one filler that is best for everyone, but that also means there are options to help everyone achieve their specific desired goals for their lips.
There is a full range of desires when it comes to lip augmentation. There is a full range of desires for lip augmentation.  Often when patients come in for the first time they are often worried of looking “overdone” or having the dreaded “duck lips.”  However just like a breast augmentation, if patients could change anything after their lip augmentation they wish they would have gone bigger! 

Lip augmentation is about giving patients the shape that they desire, not just big lips.  The art in lip augmentation in molding and shape the lips.  The perfect lip augmentation is about giving the lips a natural, sexy appearance.  Just making the lips bigger is not beautiful.  Enhancing the size while creating a shape makes the face look more youthful.  Lip augmentation can create a cupid’s bow and improve the overall shape of the lips without a “fake” or “overdone” appearance.

There are several options for patients that want a very natural appearance to their lips:

Restylane Refyne and Restylane Silk are both great products for patients that want a subtle augmentation to their lips.  The Refyne is a new product that last up to a year giving patients a lasting result.  These are great starter products as they will enhance your lips, but give you a very soft and natural appearance. 

Juvederm Ultra Plus and Restylane and the workhorse products for fillers as they have been around for years and patients tend to love them.  They last about a 6-months in the lips. 

Resylane Defyne and Juvederm Vollure both last about up to a year.  Both of these products will give patients a little more volume and fullness to their lips.  The Vollure and Defyne will also last up to a year giving patients a lasting-result the will love for their lip enhancements.

Lip enhancement can be done as a simple procedure in the office.  Patients come to the office have numbing cream applied to their lips.  I give them about 15 to 20 min to let the cream take affect and then the actual process of the lip injections takes about ten minutes. 

Patients can return to work or their daily life immediately after the simple office procedure is completed. 

Please consult with your board-certified plastic surgeon about your lip augmentation options.  

Thank you for your question. Most doctors will start with one-syringe to avoid overfilling. These fillers, (Volbella, Restylane, Juvederm) are good to create a symmetrical and full lip. PDO NovaThreads can also be used to improve shape and also provide lift. Fat or implants are a permanent alternative. I recommend getting a formal evaluation with a facial sculpting expert. Best, Dr. Emer

Each person has a different lip anatomy so each lip injection is different.  The most natural lip injections take into account the white part of the lip, the lip border, and then the pink part of the lip.  We love volume and elasticity in the skin below the nose and volume in this area restores the support in this area to lift the lip naturally without even adding any product in to the pink part of the lip.  If more than a lip lift is desired, such as lip definition, one can add small amounts of product to the vermillion border or lip border and this helps turn up the corners as well as lip the center of the lip.  If volume or plumpness is desired, or if the lip needs to look more hydrated (like there's lip gloss applied), then volume in the pink lip can be applied.  Your surgeon of choice who understands the different layers of the lips and also understands all of the different filler options on the market can make the appropriate filler choice and place it in the appropriate place without getting a 'ducky' lip that every woman is afraid to get.  Your surgeon can also talk to you about longer lasting options such as fat transfer or lip implants if fillers don't last long enough for you.  

It is possible to have a natural looking result, but make sure you express your expectations with your experienced injector before your treatment. When we perform injectable treatments, we strive to achieve the Golden Ratio for your facial measurements by using the golden mean callipers. It's all about proportionate improvement. Ask your injector if they apply a technique such as this one when performing your treatment.

We usually start out with a hyaluronic acid based filler, (i.e.; juvederm, restylane). It usually gives soft, kissable, natural results. Best to see a few experienced injectors and see what they offer.  See a few injectors.  Ask to see their photos.

What Dr. Colbert is describing is conservative enhancement of the vermillion border; this concept is a good one but is not new, original, or revolutionary.  In fact, this concept is employed by many Facial Plastic Surgeons, Plastic Surgeons, and Dermatologists around the country.  I believe that hyaluronic acid injections (Restylane and Juvederm) are wonderful tools to enhance the appearance of the lips as long as the natural anatomy of the lip is respected. Lips should be more full centrally than laterally, and the lower lip should be more full than the upper.  Over-enhancement of the lips laterally leads to a transformed appearance we refer to as "Grouper Lips", which makes the patient look more like reef dwelling fish than a human.

To avoid lip injections that look like duck lips, it's important to match the size of the lips with the overall appearance of the face. Overly voluminous lips on an otherwise gaunt or skinny face looks out of place. Ultimately the amount of plumping is a personal preference and the first time you attempt this procedure, you should take it slowly with your practitioner to make sure you get it right. A couple suggestions to make sure you approach the process slowly.

Try a .4ml Restylane syringe (or the new .5 ml Juvederm) in the vermilion border. Injecting the border of the lip makes it "roll" open a bit giving it a larger appearance without adding too much volume.
If you would like more volume after the vermilion border injections, try a .4ml Restylane or Juvederm injection in the body of the lips.
Finally, if this is not enough volume, consider trying a .8ml or 1ml syringe injected into the body of the lips.

Taking a stepwise approach with your practitioner may take a little more time and expense, but if you want to avoid the look you are describing sometimes it's better to approach the process incrementally. Also, note that swelling is an issue in the lips and you should wait at least a week for swelling to go down before making any decisions about how to proceed in the next step.

Too much volume of filler, lack of precision with placement, and paradoxical swelling after hyaluronic acids can occur with both Juvederm or Restylane. Small volumes of filler in the lip both in the border and the lip muscle itself is important initially. More volume can always be added later when the initial result is reevaluated.

Often with lips, less is more. You can always add more volume, but the initial treatment should be subtle and natural looking. You can have the "Colbert Lips" or the Rand, Placik, Oppenheim, Wu, Aldea, Pearlman, or Persky Lips by choosing an injecting physician whose sense of beauty, experience, and skill will give you beautiful lips.
It's not the product or technique (although there are some products that should be avoided in lips), as much as the injector that creates either sensual naturally youthful lips or is responsible for those lips that enter the room before the rest of the patient.
Choose your injecting physician most carefully.
Dr. P