What is the Best Laser to Remove the Lines from Nose to Mouth?

In order to answer your question correctly it is important to ensure that physicians comprehend the meaning of your question. Lines from the nostrils to the corners of the mouth are referred to as smile folds, smile creases and "the parentheses."  These smile folds are best treated by fillers and lasers usually do not help, and usually facelifts do not help much for those lines either.  Sometimes cheek volume augmentation makes the appearance of these lines less bothersome.  However, if you are referrring to the lines from under the nostrils that run vertically down to the upper lip can be many and lie parallel from the middle of the upper lip to the corners of the mouth then yes, these lines can be treated by lasers. It is important to realize that the underlying orbicularis oris muscle that controls are lip function, when contracted, makes the overlying skin contract and creates pleats. These wrinkles can never be removed completely, even with the most aggressive dermabrasion, carbon dioxide ablative laser or the newer fractional ablative or fractional non-ablative lasers. Once the wound heals and the muscle is contracting, the skin forms more pleats. Patients who had the older more aggressive, second degree-type "burn" wounds from dermabrasion or carbon dioxide laser, would have improvement in the lines but the skin can become whiter and the lines will still be apparent. See an experienced plastic or dermatologic surgeon to evaluate what treatment is best for your skin type. Some people can even get improvement with the off-label use of tiny units of Botox in the upper skin-colored lip to minimize the muscle-skin "pleating" but as this can cause a few months of a disturbing imbalance in the lip muscles which is unsightly, only a physician who has great experience in injecting Botox to this area should perform the treatment, and it should not be used for wind instrument musicians, singers, and possibly public speakers.

Fractional laser is an amazing and highly effective treatment in our office. We use the laser treatment to help with acne scars, large pores, fine wrinkles, tissue collagen loss, scars, sebaceous hyperplasia, active acne, and for brightening dark pigmentation. Although there are very strong fractional lasers such as CO2 laser, we use lighter treatments for corrective skincare and maintenance of results. Our Thulium fractional laser, clear and brilliant laser, and Ultra Thulium laser are excellent options in our clinic. We also perform CO2 fractional and erbium depending on skin tone and tolerance for downtime. Patients do have to use a Melarase cream before and after treatment to help further reduce pigmentation after laser. Dark spots can improve with these treatments. I recommend fractional laser for incisional scars as well, especially after plastic surgery.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

Are you referring to the lasolabial creases (or folds)? If these are real depressions, then these are best treated with injectable fillers such as Radiesse, Perlane or Juvederm. Laser treatments will lead to only subtle improvements.

For upper (and lower) lip wrinkles (a.k.a. "smoker's lines"), then the gold standard of laser treatments ist still the CO2 laser. Newer technologies such as fractionated lasers (i.e. "Fraxel", "Deep Fx" etc) can provide improvements but are usually less dramatic than with the full surface CO2 laser. But these technologies maybe a little safer at the same time.

At the end, always keep in mind that a laser is not a smart robot but just a tool (like a scalpel or a pair of scissors). So, it is the surgeon that needs to use the tool with expertise and respect for a safe treatment.