LIP ENHANCEMENT

These procedures may be suitable for those who would like larger or fuller lips.

TEMPORARY ENHANCEMENT

Many substances have been used to temporarily enlarge the lips. These substances are primarily injected under the white line around the lip margin. This is the white hair free line which outlines the vermilion (red mucosa) of the lip and is distinct from normal lip skin. This gives a pouting (Paris) lip. The bulk of the lip can be increased by injections into the muscle but these tend to dissolve at a fast rate. The most common material used to enlarge lips is collagen for which an allergy test is required. Recently Hyaluronic Acid gel (Hylaform, Restylane) has been used. All these temporary and dissolving substances need to be topped up every three to six months.

PERMANENT LIP ENLARGEMENT USING THE PATIENT'S OWN SKIN TISSUE

Dermis, or the deeper layers of the skin, has been used as a graft for many years, but recently has become popular for lip enhancement. The tissue is harvested as a bi- product of some other operation where it would otherwise be discarded, eg, abdominal reduction, breast reduction, facelift etc. The epidermis or outer skin is removed and the shaped dermis threaded through from one side of the lip to the other. The advantage is that this tissue takes well as a graft because it is the patient’s own tissue, therefore there will be no problems of allergy. Post operative swelling is common and can create complications of infection and bleeding, as in any operation. An alternative graft to dermis is fascia (the covering of muscle). This can be the temporalis fascia from the covering of the temporalis muscle under the scalp at the temple, or from elsewhere.

Lip enhancement by graft is limited by the amount of vermilion or mucosa of the lip that is available. Some older people have very limited amounts of vermilion available.