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The question here is lip lift versus lip filler? It’s a super common question that comes up. I have a lot of patients who want lip lifts who are also great candidates for lip filler and vice versa. I have lip filler patients who are also good candidates for lip lifts. So I’ll define the difference; a lip lift is where, classically speaking, an incision is made somewhere near the junction between the white lip (the white lip being the border of the white part of the lip area or where the mustache grows for men) and the nose. Once the incision is made the skin is removed and the lip is then flipped up or manipulated therefore shortening the distance between the white skin and the nose. While lip filler is when, typically, a hyaluronic acid based product is then placed in the lips to physically plump .
So which one is which, and which should be done for what? So the negative aspect of a surgically done lip flip is that a lip flip involves a scar. So for patients who are conscious of scaring you probably do not want to do a surgical lip flip or a lip lift surgery. However, for patients who do have a longer white upper lip area or are older it may be worth it to shorten the distance between the nose and the white lip. In addition you’re going to fill out your red lip area and everything is going to be in a better position and tucked up and lifted! So, you will have to deal with a scar but it is going to balance out your face in a more desirable way. For younger patients, who are typically patients who have shorter upper lips- I think you should stick with filler.
Now we do have patients who come in, who have tried lip filler and say, ‘it keeps migrating on me’. This could be a result of lip injections done too aggressively or placed in the wrong spot. So it is really important if you’re going to an injector to ensure they know what they are doing. We are fortunate to have amazing injectors in our office. We have our nurse injectors, our Physicians Assistants and my wife (who is also a physician) and of course myself – we all administer lip filler. In addition to lip injections I also perform lip lift surgery and it is not something to be taken lightly. Although you can choose local anesthesia you do have to deal with that scar but it can be a permanent or semi permanent change to the lip which can be a game changer! As another positive you don’t have to worry about filler migration which can be great for patients who’ve had issues with that over a long period of time but generally patients who are older do much better with lip lifts and patients who are younger do much better with lip filler. Hopefully that’s helpful for you!
