My mouth moves up to one side when I speak - which procedure can help correct this?

Question

When I was younger, I hated my braces and teeth so I made it my mission to hide them. I started to cover my teeth with my lips whenever I speak but now that I’m a lot wiser, I realised how it looks. My upper lip completely moves to the side when I say certain words and I can’t fix it naturally so I’d love to know how to fix it. I attached pictures of my mouth slightly smiling which looks alright vs when I speak (I screenshotted them from a video I took to see how my mouth looks).

Sergio Verduzco Casillas, MD · Answer

Hello, thanks for your question. From what you say, it seems to me a psychologically acquired tic. It's not an esthetic medicine matter. Botox would not help you. Your involuntary lip movement could be a result of a neurologic cause, too. I recommend going to a neurologist to discard an injury and then to a psychological therapist. Good luck!

Jason Emer, MD · Answer

This is my expertise and a huge portion of my practice. Asymmetry is normal and expected. Buccal fat pad gives slimming not symmetry. Masseter botox will make you slimmer and make the jawline more loose. Fillers help give shaping and contouring. If you want perfect or close to perfect symmetry you need maxillofacial surgery or implants customized. I suggest seeing an expert to go through all options. Most of my younger clients use fillers to give them shaping especially on the cheeks, jawline, and chin which make the face look more slim and tight; and threads such as PDO or Instalift can build collagen and support the facial shaping and skin looseness over time, slowing down the aging process and given the face a more “snatched” look; and morpheus8 or PiXel8 deep microneedling RF can tighten crepe skin especially on the neck and jawline and is great for long term tightening of the full face, neck and chest; its often used to give the face a slimmer more sculpted look because it tightens the skin and gives lift. an early face lift can be performed as well even in younger clients if they want a different facial shape, maxillofacial surgery with bone breaking or shaving can also be done. For facial slimming a combination of treatments are always needed. Options include: 1. Buccal fat pad removal to reduce fat on the lower face 2. Factite or Renuvion/J Plasma to tighten the lower face, jawline, and chin to reduce fat and give the jawline and neck tightening and shaping. 3. Botox to the masseter to reduce the muscular size of the jaw giving the face an illusion of being more slender 4. Fillers to the jawline, chin, cheeks, temples and brow help to shape the face and make it more angled and defined Always use at home derma rolling (see link to Emerageskin x anteageMD roller plus stem cells/hyaluronic acid ampules) and peels like emeragecosmetics enlighten or aerify that can be used to improve skin quality and tighten the skin while improving wrinkles, pigmentation, acne, and Melasma. See an expert who does facial shaping with surgical and non surgical methods to get a comprehensive option. Best, Dr. Emer.

Mats Hagstrom, MD (license on probation) · Answer

If this is how your mouth has been moving your whole life then there’s probably no treatment indicated or possible.
If this is a change then you should be evaluated by a neurologist.
Trying to manipulate mouth movement could potentially be done using Botox but the chance of creating balance without a problem it’s probably not worth the potential improvement.
Movement of the mouth is fairly complex and there are quite a few muscles involved.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD

My mouth moves up to one side when I speak - which procedure can help correct this?

Answers (3)

Recommended reading

Everything you need to know about Lip Fillers

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.

My mouth moves up to one side when I speak - which procedure can help correct this?

Answers (3)

Browse related questions

Recommended reading

Everything you need to know about Lip Fillers

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.