Full lips are a sign of youth. Do this simple visual experiment to prove that a youthful lip is a plump one! Take three women — a 20 year-old, a 40 year-old and a 60 year-old — and place them side-by-side, in profile view. Note that the 20 year old will have a convex upper lip. The top part of her upper lip (from the base of the nose to the top of the pink part or vermillion) will protrude out past the pink part of her lip. The 40 year-old will have a flat upper lip and the 60 year-old’s upper lip will be concave.
While youthful lips tend to be plump, there are many of us born with thin lips. And no matter what genetic hand Mother Nature initially dealt us, most of us will see our upper lip flatten, thin out and lose fullness with the passing years. With age comes a loss of fat in the upper lip. Noticeable changes include a deflated and elongated appearance in the top part of the upper lip, a flattening of the philtrum or vertical ridges between the lips and nose; and an appearance of wrinkles or lip lines.
It’s no secret that lips can be made fuller and more sensuous with injectable fillers. There’s no downtime (although there can be temporary swelling and sometimes bruising), results are instant, and because lip augmentation/ enhancement is a “lunchtime” procedure, it’s incredibly popular. If you have second thoughts about your new appearance, you can blast away the filler with an injection to reverse the effects. Knowing this, who wouldn’t want to pursue a path to restore their lips to their former youthful fullness?
Well, although lip augmentation (aka lip enhancement) can produce wonderful results, we’ve all seen examples (some on national television and in magazines) of women with obviously overdone lips. What went wrong? In some cases, the answer is simply that these women got too much of a good thing. In Hollywood, the idea that “more is more” can produce some spectacularly strange results. As a general rule, it’s far easier to add more fullness than it is to take it back. It pays to be conservative!
When lips appear unnatural, it’s often because of an aesthetic imbalance. Know that the upper lip should be in proportion to the lower lip and to the entire face. The lower lip should project a little beyond the upper lip. When these proportions are violated, (think of the “duckbill” lip) the result can be visually unsettling.
In New York City (NYC) and Manhattan, Dr. Yagoda cautions patients against using permanent fillers, such as silicon, that can move or shift, and cause lumps and granulations in the lips. In addition, because the lips are three-dimensional structures that move and change with age, it is almost impossible for a surgeon to create lips that look and feel natural in a 20 year-old that will remain equally harmonious when that person turns 60.
As a facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Yagoda uses her expertise and understanding of the face’s complex harmonies and proportions to produce beautiful, natural-looking lips for her clients in New York, NYC, Manhattan, and many other parts of the globe.
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