Hello, Great and fair question. There are a few things to consider when it comes to lip lifts. The first and perhaps the most important is that although it seems like a simple surgery, there are many little nuances to getting it done right. It is very important to choose someone that does these often and with great care for the details.A lip lift accomplish 4 major changes. It decreases the length between the nose and lip, gives the top lip more apparent volume, increases tooth show, and enhances the 3 dimensional shape of the top lip. We have to balance all of these in each case in order to achieve the most ideal results. The length between the nose and lip is relative to each individual face. It is not as simple as saying that it is long or short at baseline. Some people look good with 16mm, while others look good with 11m of upper lip. There is no magic one size fits all approach to this, at least not if it is done well. Based on these photos, although your top lip does not appear to be very long, it seems that there may room for a mild (3-4mm lift). This seems like a very small amount, but when done properly, the enhanced support of the upper lip to the stable areas of the nasal base can give more tooth show, a subtly improved ratio, and perhaps even an improved smile (requiring less strain and appearing more relaxed). In the smiling photo, there appears to be a small bit of strain in the center, but this is something that is better evaluated dynamically either in person or virtually. The amount of tooth show, which seems to be your main concern is hard to predict as it depends on skin thickness and underlying dental support. It seems that in your case, a 3mm lift might improve the tooth show by approximately 1mm. A photo with the mouth partially open is helpful to evaluate tooth show. I hope you find this helpful, however in the end, to truly understand if you are a candidate, a consultation with a qualified surgeon (or two, or three) is the best way to go. Good luck!
