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Tips for natural looking lip plumping?

woman before and after Restylane filler to upper lip area
Question: “My lips are thinning with age but I don’t want to look of fake with those over plumped up lips I see. What are some tips for natural appearing lip plumping?”
The mistake many patients make (and many physicians too) is choosing to focus ONLY on the lip itself.

Youthful full lips, the ones that people find sexy and appealing, are actually only a part of the package. To get a truly natural lip augmentation you must also consider

  • The philtral column
  • Cupid’s bow
  • Lip border
  • Area between the lip and nose
  • Corners of the mouth
  • Tip of the nose angle

Are You Becoming a Sour Puss?

As we age, or sometimes just from habit, our mouth corners tend to go down. Propping up that corner can make a huge difference.

Philtrum comes from the Greek philtron, that in turn deriving from philein, “to love, to kiss.” Apparently the Greeks found the vertical groove on the median line of the upper lip (See how little romance there is in medicine?) an erogenous spot. Philtron has another English descendant, philter or philtre, a noun for a potion or drug with the power to excite sexual passion toward a person. It often turns up as love-philtre.

The “Sexy” Calling Card

The small vertical columns between the cupid’s bow and the nose base is, for all practical purposes, a come-hither calling card. The “sexiest” men and women (as viewed by others) are usually those with well-defined philtral columns.

Don’t Overdo It

Another major consideration is the overall proportions of the face. Overfilled lips look fake and draw negative attention. Balance, projection, proportion of the lower lip to upper lip, how much teeth you show in a smile… The list seems long, but each component must be factored in to get a truly beautiful and natural result.

Too much filler around the lips can cause a change in your natural smile and can also “stiffen” a smile. I’m sure you’ve seen women who have so much filler in and around their lips they seem to only have horizontal slits when they smile…not pretty!

It’s a delicate balance but a very natural looking lip augmentation can be achieved with some careful assessment and careful placement of filler – and sometimes a little Botox to drop a too-high upper lip or let the mouth corners rise.

Our top choice for most lip augmentation? Juvederm.