Lip Enhancement at the Naderi Center for Rhinoplasty & Cosmetic Surgery
When it comes to lip enhancement, whether lip injections or surgery, our goal at The Naderi Center for Rhinoplasty & Cosmetic Surgery is that our patients achieve natural results which will help enhance their facial features. Each patient’s unique facial contours are carefully considered when determining the procedures designed to accomplish their aesthetic goals.
Lip enhancement procedures can add fullness to thin lips, decrease wrinkles around the mouth, and improve lip contour to create better harmony between the lips and the other facial features. Enhancing the volume of your lips with injectable fillers restores a youthful fullness often lost with age.
The surgeons at the Naderi Center understand the key to a beautiful lip enhancement procedure is to maintain appropriate contour and balance between the upper and lower lips. Dr. Kulak is a fellowship trained facial plastic surgeon, who specializes in facial rejuvenation. Dr. Naderi is double board certified plastic surgeon who is a clinical instructor teaching other surgeons the fine art of injecting dermal fillers. Dr. Anderson is a top plastic surgeon and an assistant professor at the prestigious Emory University. She is highly sought for her expert technique at dermal fillers.
Lip Enhancement Consultation
The team at the Naderi Center has experience with the many different options available to enlarge or enhance the size and shape of the lips. During consultation, they will evaluate your face and suggest the best option for your unique aesthetic goals. These options include fat injections, filler injections, dermal grafting, vermillion advancement, lip implants and lip lifting. Injectable fillers, grafts and implants can physically change the plumpness and volume of your lips, while lip lifts and vermillion advancement can change the shape and increase the amount of colored area of your lips.
Lip injections using natural or synthetic fillers can keep your lips plump for months at a time. Lip implants and other surgical procedures can also be performed for a more permanent solution. Other options include lip lifts, vermillion (lip) advancement and permanent makeup. Every year, thousands of people undergo successful lip enhancement and are pleased with the results.
Many people who consider lip enhancement also consider fillers, facial implants and permanent makeup. Lips can be divided into several different areas that can be addressed with surgical and non-surgical procedures.
Good candidates for lip enhancement want to plump up thin lips or create a fuller look. If you smile and your top lip or both lips disappear, you may benefit from lip augmentation. If you feel your lips are too large and overwhelm your face, lip reduction surgery may be an option. Before and after photos can be useful in helping you make the most informed decision.
Lip Enhancement Procedures
The doctors at the Naderi Center for Rhinoplasty & Cosmetic Surgery will evaluate your lips in relation to your entire face. They can improve uneven lips and the shape of your mouth, or gums that show when you smile. Thin, poorly defined lips may be hereditary or occur as a result of aging. After lip enhancement, your lips will be fuller and have an improved contour while maintaining the appropriate facial balance.
Lip injections are performed as an in-office procedure and generally take less than an hour to complete. Patients receive a topical numbing cream or a dental block. Most lip fillers contain a numbing medication, enabling patients to tolerate this procedure without a dental block.
Understanding Your Lips
Lips are composed of many different shapes and sizes
Youthful and attractive lips often have the following characteristics:
- A defined cupid’s bow and vermillion border
- Smooth upper lip skin that is typically less than 2 centimeters from the base of the nose
- Slight upturn at the oral commissures
- Red lips are full with the lower lip fuller than the upper lip
- Subtle amount of teeth shown with a relaxed mouth
Every patient has different goals for lip enhancement. The team at the Naderi Center has the training, experience and expertise to recommend the right procedure, employ the best technique and to provide a natural result to guide and meet your aesthetic goal.
Lip Enhancement
Significant lip volume loss can occur over time and with the aging process. As lips lose volume with aging, they may become less projected and lines can form around the edges. For some patients, thin lips are hereditary. The team will focus on enhancing the shape of your lip, restoring the natural fullness and pout of the lips and enhancing the cupid’s bow and feminine shape of the lips.
Here at the Naderi Center for Rhinoplasty & Cosmetic Surgery, the surgeons use their experience and aesthetic consideration when balancing your upper and lower lips’ proportions in relation to each other. They guide their patients toward the most natural-looking results and discourage injecting fillers to make the lips bigger with unattractive, imbalanced and artificial-looking results.
Options for lip enhancement include the following:
- Fat transfer. In fat transfer, autologous fat which is fat from your own body can be removed with liposuction from another area of your body and injected into your lips. Injections may need to be repeated until the desired result is attained.
- Injectable fillers. Fillers made from natural or synthetic biocompatible material act as a fat substitute to plump the lip. Dr. Kulak’s experience is that one treatment generally produces the desired result. Results, however, are typically temporary and require repeat injections.
- Dermal Grafts. A permanent method of lip augmentation can be accomplished by surgically advancing the lip forward, with incisions located inside the mouth. A dermal fat graft, taken from the deeper layers of the skin, may then be positioned under the mucosa, which is the lining of the lip, adding additional plumpness.
- Vermillion Advancement. This procedure involves an incision made along the border of the colored portion of the lips, followed by the removal of a strip of skin outside the border. The surgeon then pulls the colored portion of the lip forward to increase the lip area.
- Lip Implants. Lip implants can be inserted through tiny incisions located inside the corners of the mouth. There are many natural or synthetic implant options available. Dr. Kulak will discuss which option is best for you.
- Lip Lift Surgery. Removing extra skin in your lips and lifting your lips will help a downward sloping mouth with lose lip skin. An incision is made under the nose and the skin is shortened, pulling up the lips. Other lift techniques can shorten the upper lip to expose more teeth. A downward turning mouth can be lifted with small upward sutures removed in four to five days.
Lip Filler Injections
Lip filler injections are a great option for those seeking lip enhancements. Fillers can achieve the following:
- Add volume to deflated lips
- Define the borders and shape of the lips
- Soften “lipstick” lines
- Reverse downturned corners of the mouth
- Provide more red lip show
Injectable fillers such as Juvederm and Restylane enhance the natural shape of the lips, creating a fuller, more rounded appearance. Volume enhancement for thin lips can balance the face and, for women create a softer, more feminine appearance.
To improve “lipstick lines” or lip lines that form at the border of the lip, a filler such as Belotero or Restylane can be used to fill in the lip lines individually and return definition and shape to deflated lips. Fillers can also be used to reverse downturned corners of the mouth.
Post-Procedure Lip Enhancement Expectations
Lip enhancement is usually performed on an outpatient basis. If you are having a surgical procedure, arrange to have someone to drive you home after surgery and to stay with you at least the first night following surgery.
A significant amount of swelling following your procedure can occur and may take about two weeks to subside. Ice packs will help reduce the swelling. Consuming soft foods that do not require chewing will support your recovery. Numbness in the treated region may be experienced by some patients. This numbness will gradually subside within a month.
Lip Augmentation Recovery
Swelling of the lips is common after augmentation; consequently for at least three days your lips will appear larger than their final result. Bruising can occur after lip injections, generally resolving in one week. Lips typically feel tender for the first few days post-injection, but will feel natural and normal after the initial swelling and bruising resolves.
Cold compresses can be applied to the operative site to reduce swelling, bruising and pain. A liquid-only diet for one or two days is suggested. While your activities will be restricted, you should be mobile the first day of your surgery.
Lip Augmentation FAQs
Are silicone injections safe for lips?
Silicone injections are an unsafe and unacceptable option as lip filler. These injections are not FDA approved and are often offered by unlicensed individuals and should be avoided.
Am I a candidate for lip implants?
Adults in good overall health looking to enhance their lips may be candidates for lip implants. If you have naturally thin lips or an age-related decrease in lip volume, you will most likely experience exceptional results from your procedure. It is important to have reasonable expectations for the outcome of your procedure. The team will work with their patients, reviewing “Before and After” photos together with creating a foundation of knowledge, to help patients fully understand the potential, procedures and associated risk before moving forward.
How long will lip augmentation results last?
Fat injections may require multiple injections but can potentially produce permanent results. The duration of filler injection results depend on the type of filler used. Some fillers last from three to six months, while others last almost a year. Essentially permanent results are obtained with dermal grafting, lip implants, lip lifting, and vermillion advancement.
What risks are associated with lip enhancement?
Significant complications from lip enhancement are infrequent. Lip enhancement is usually performed without major problems.
Facial Plastic Surgeons in Virginia
Dr. Jessica Kulak, Dr. Erica Anderson, and Dr. Shervin Naderi are trained facial plastic surgeons, practicing at The Naderi Center.
Dr. Kulak considers the lips to be a crucial facial focus. Her training, experience and technique guide her patients in obtaining the aesthetic vision they desire.
Dr. Naderi is nationally recognized as one of top experts for Botox and filler injections. His instructional videos on Youtube are used by dermatologists and plastic surgeons all over the world for training purposes.
Dr. Anderson is an accomplished and artistic plastic surgeon. One of her many specialties is non-invasive injections. She is well known in the operating room by her surgical team for her meticulous attention to detail and excellent surgical results.
The Naderi Center for Rhinoplasty & Cosmetic Surgery offices are located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, (301) 222-2020; and Herndon, Virginia, (703) 481-0002.
Hospitals: Procedures performed at the INOVA system hospitals include Fair Oaks Hospital, Loudoun Hospital, Fairfax Hospital, or at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda Maryland.