• Video
  • Lip Augmentaion With PermaLip Implants
{{ showTranscript ? 'HIDE' : 'SHOW' }} TRANSCRIPT
The PermaLip is a great option because it's a soft, very natural appearing lip implant. It can be done as an easy office procedure under local or no anesthesia. I perform a lot of these procedures. A lot of patients who have had lip augmentation before or with lip injections or even other implants come to have these PermaLip implants.

I get probably the most patients from the DC, Virginia area than anybody else in this area. This procedure is very simple. They come in, they have the procedure, it takes around half an hour, they go home and within a week they're looking great. The lip implants themselves are made up of a solid, silicone silastic material. They're very stretchy and soft and they feel very nice to the touch and very natural.

These implants stay and feel soft in the lips which can be very different than Gore-Tex implants which I've removed in plenty of patients before because of the change in the texture that they noticed with Gore-Tex. Gore-Tex feels sometimes soft initially but then can feel quite hard in the lips after several months to a couple of years.

When we're looking at our patient's lips, one thing that's nice about the PermaLip implant versus even fillers which also give a nice natural result, is that with the PermaLip the implant is actually implanted along the wet-dry border, meaning the wet part of the lip to the dry part of the lip. That border of the lip is where the implant lies and that gives a very nice, soft augmentation to the red portion of the lip without giving that duck look or unnatural look that sometimes people will see.

When we do fillers, often it's augmented along the border of the lip and then we can fill also into the lip, but this is giving a nice augmentation
that actually gives the lip a nice fill. For physicians interested in performing this procedure, the instrument's tray is pretty basic. The main instruments that are involved are usually just a 15 blade to make the initial incision and then a sharp scissor to dissect along the plane in which the implant is placed, and then after which we use a specific tunneler that comes through the PermaLip Company that allows for an accurate placement of the implant.

So I began by just marking the patient, I've marked the wet-dry border of the lip where the implant will be placed underneath and I also marked the mid-line of her lip, and then these little lines on the sides and corners are where the incisions are. I like to place actually two separate incisions on the top just next to the commissure rather than doing one through the commissure, because I feel like some people do often draw it through the commissure and it can disrupt this corner and cause scarring in that area.

So the patient is down now and ready to go, she's prepped and draped.
I'm going to start with just making an incision, I'm starting with the upper lip, it's just a small little opening in which the implants can be placed through.
Now I'm going to be tunneling along the wet-dry border of the lip. You
doing okay? Mm-hmm? Patient doesn't feel anything because she's well numbed.

So after I made the tunnel with the scissors I've now inserted the tunneler
which slid right through both ends of the opening, to be ready to pull the
implant now through the upper lip. I'm pulling the implant through, trying not to touch the implant too much as it goes through the lip. Position, let's see.
Now I'm just massaging the lip to make sure that it's in good position,
sitting well on the lip, and I'm just checking for the position of the
implant. The amount of swelling that you're seeing, this is from the
initial lidocaine injections, most of this will go down within a couple of
hours but then she will be swollen. By a week, the lips will be looking
pretty normal.

Now I'm just closing these small little incisions at the corner that in a
week will be barely visible at all. These sutures are dissolvable, but
usually by a week they're ready to come out, so I usually remove them at
that time. So we've already completed the top and now we're going to just
do the bottom implant. I'm starting again with the incisions in the corner,
and then I'm going to be tunneling underneath along the wet-dry border and
placing the tunneler to pull the implant through. One thing is, gently the limit bruising and swelling so each patient can get back to their daily
life fast and being out with their friends without necessarily telling them
anything.

So now I'm going to be passing the tunneler into my already-made tunnel.
Here's the implant, so I put some Betadine and I'm going to be pulling it
through with the tunneler right now. So now, I'm just going to floss it back
and forth to let it settle into a good position and again, just assessing the
position and the implant in perfect position, I feel both ends and I'm feeling
in the center, right along the wet dry border that's marked on the lip.

Lip Augmentaion With PermaLip Implants

Lip implants, such as these PermaLips, are a more permanent alternative to facial fillers thatin order to provide the look of a plumper lip.