Which Lip Procedure Gives the Most Subtle and Natural Look?

Do not get any solid or semisolid implant placed in your lips they all look very unnatural and can cause devastating consequences. The ONLY kind of off the shelf filler that is appropriate and safe is hyaluronic acid ie Perlane, Restylane, Juvederm.  The best filler is your own fat -safe and permanent.  Look at the results and discuss expectations with your surgeon.  I hope this helps!

 

All the best,

 

Rian A. Maercks M.D.

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.  

I would suggest using safe reversible hyaluronic acid based fillers like Juvederm, a doctor can enhance the shape of the lips by contouring the edges of the lips to lift the natural muscle up, to give a natural look and feel to the lips so it never looks “done.”  Lip implants or permanent lip fillers are can create a permanent problem if not dont properly. This is why I would just recommend Juvederm which is reversible if you do not like the results.

The hyaluronic-acid based fillers, such as Juvederm, Juvederm Volbella, Restylane, and Restylane Silk, give the most natural and attractive look when augmenting lips, in my opinion. Lip implants and more permanent fillers can make the lips look overdone and may feel unnatural. Please find a board-certified dermatologist who understands lip aesthetics and can give you volume that balances out your face while keeping the look in harmony with your natural beauty.

Hyaluronic acid fillers usually give the best and most natural looking results for lip augmentation.

HA is a naturally occurring sugar. It can augment tissue and hydrate it as well. These molecules can hold a lot of water

However, the key to getting the best results is choosing the right doctor.

Lip augmentation requires artistic and technical skill. There are certain lip proportions that must be adhered to so that you don’t end up looking overfilled

And there are also best practices to help ensure that the left side is symmetrical to the right side

Here is a patient example using Juvederm


 

I would not recommend any permanent treatments for the lips. With filler, I find the best result is obtained with Juvederm. It yields a great looking and natural result. I would recommend a consultation with a board certified facial plastic surgeon who has a great deal of experience performing lip augmentations with filler. I hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck! 

Juvederm filler is a good starting option to try out and see if you like your new appearance with plumper lips. Patients in my practice then move on to more permanent yet reversible option with a new lip implant that is soft and look and feel very natural.  This eliminate need for repeated injections and costs over time. 

The great thing about the hyaluronic-acid based fillers such as Juvederm and Restylane is that, in the right hands, they can make very subtle and yet substantial improvements to lip shape and volume. This is particularly important when changing the shape of the cupid's bow or other subtle structures. The HA dermal fillers also are well tolerated, have little downtime, and only have to be repeated every three to four months – so there's less maintenance than a haircut or color! You can also experiment with the fillers, starting out with just a little volume, and adding more if you wish. If you ever go too far, they're easily dissolved with hyaluronidase. Schedule a consult with a board-certified dermatologist to have your lips evaluated and discuss your ideal shape and degree of fullness.

There are many methods to increase the size of lips.  These include surgical and non surgical techniques.  A natural result depends greatly on the product used, technique and discussion of expectations.

I tend towards autologous fat grafting, which can have a sustained result in some patients for many years; however, I also use the various other fillers and implants in my practice, and a great deal depends on the patient’s desires and anatomy. 

Jonathan Ross Berman, M.D. , F.A.C.S.