Lip Aesthetics
Lips have a unique anatomical position on your face, which contains the features of the skin and mucous membranes, and have an essential role in facial and smile aesthetics.
While plump lips, which have become a trend in recent years, are among the beauty norms, lip aesthetics are not limited to this. In this direction, many procedures, such as lip thickening, thinning, lip lifting, clarification of lip contours, and arrangement of lip folds, are performed in our clinic. Surgical methods in lip aesthetics are more permanent than non-surgical methods. Let’s get down to the details of our procedures together.
Lip Filling (Augmentation)
Unfortunately, due to aging and other factors such as cigarettes and the sun, volume loss and thinning occur in our lips. Lip augmentation is exactly for this, and it allows you to regain the old flamboyant appearance of your lips but does not stop the aging process. Our patients prefer lip augmentation for the following two reasons:
Correcting asymmetries on the lips. It is common for lips to be of different sizes and shapes.
Other reasons are a sagging upper lip, drooping mouth corners, marionette line, and cigarette wrinkles.
Different materials can be used to give your lips a natural look during lip augmentation, and these materials have their own characteristics.
Injection Materials and Process Overview
Fat grafts, fascia grafts, and dermis grafts are taken from the person and can be used as filling materials. Dermis and fascia grafts are more permanent than fat grafts, but a long-term natural appearance can be obtained with injections made at 3-month intervals on very thin lips. The advantage of fat injection is that no incision is made during this procedure. These procedures should be performed under local anesthesia and sedation in operating room conditions. The average duration of an operation is 1 hour, and our patients can be discharged after 1 hour of hospital observation. Post-operative patients may have some pain that lasts for a few days, but it is relieved with simple painkillers. Patients may have swelling and bruising in the lip area. It will go away on its own in about a week. The patients do not need any dressing or have stitches to remove. They can return to work in 1–3 days.
Dermal fillers and fat injections are among the most popular methods. Comparatively, fat injections are less popular. There are several reasons for this, such as prolonged swelling and a short duration of persistence.
Hyaluronic Acid:
The most widely used dermal fillers are hyaluronic acids. It is a natural substance in our body, so the risk of allergic or immune reactions is low. It can be applied without surgery. It is performed with tiny needles and takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Topical anesthesia or local anesthesia can be applied during the procedure. It can be done in office conditions. After the procedure, patients can quickly return to their daily lives.
The Permanence of Lip Fillers
The permanence of lip fillers is about 12–18 months. This period is shorter as younger people with more active metabolism tend to burn more calories.
Advice for post-procedure
Your lips may be swollen and bruised, but they will disappear after 24 to 48 hours. It may take up to 2 weeks for the permanent image to last. Attention should be paid to the listed things to speed up the healing process.
Apply an ice pack for around 8-10 minutes to decrease inflammation, pain, and swelling.
Do not apply lipstick, lip balm, or any other product to your lips for at least 24 hours.
Avoid touching or pursing your lips, including kissing and sipping through a straw.
Be careful when brushing your teeth.
Drink lots of water.
Avoid exercising for at least 24 hours.
Very hot or very cold food or drinks should not be consumed.
Tobacco products should not be used for the first 3 days.
How often can lip fillings be repeated?
It can be repeated at any time, according to the usage period of the lip filler. Lip augmentation is a harmless procedure for patients.
Who can do lip augmentation, and what kind of results will occur if it is not done with expert hands?
Lip augmentation aims to obtain a natural appearance without straying from the person’s natural beauty. To do this, the procedure should be performed by specialist plastic surgeons or dermatologists. Remember that if you do not receive service from an experienced healthcare provider, your lips may grow permanently, the tissue surrounding your lips may die, the lip filling may harden, or the injection sites may become infected. In this direction, you will be widely informed by our plastic surgeons or dermatologists before the procedure. Our doctors will want to learn about your medical history, your chronic diseases, the drugs you use, your aesthetic operations, and whether you are allergic to any drugs. You should also discuss your expectations and the possibility of realizing these expectations with our doctors.
Lip Lifting
Of course, lip augmentation is not the only way to make your lips look fuller. The distance between the nose and the lip lengthens due to loss of elasticity with age. For this reason, the lip turns inward and looks droopy. The lip lift is a surgical method that shortens the space between the upper part of the lip nose and , known as the philtrum. Thus, the lip becomes outward-facing, and the amount of visible pink tissue increases. It is aimed to treat the volume and fullness lost with age. Its results are more permanent than those of lip augmentation and lip implants.
Types of Lip Lift Surgery:
Lip lift operations can be named differently according to the surgical incision. In general, it can be summarized as direct, sub-nasal, central, corner, or Italian lip lift. During the examination, our surgeon will determine which one you will have done according to the desired change. He will make a joint decision with you.
Who is lip lifting for?
Lip lifting surgery is suitable for people over a certain age who want to reduce the gap between the nose and the lips. Generally, the age of 40 is considered ideal for this procedure.
Not getting the desired result from the filling.
Patients who are bored with the care and continuity of the filling may prefer a lip lift.
The permanence of the lip-lifting process is higher than that of the filling.
Pre-operative process
In the pre-operative period, our plastic surgeons will receive information about your medical history, chronic diseases, and the medications you use. Your inspection will be carried out, deficiencies will be revealed, and realistic results will be achieved per your expectations. Some drugs you use during the pre-operative period may be stopped by your doctor (such as blood thinners). In addition, our doctors may recommend that you not smoke or consume alcohol for at least 1 week before the operation. This is necessary for rapid recovery and minimizing anesthesia’s negative side effects.
Operation and Discharge Time
The average duration of the procedure performed under local anesthesia in operating room conditions is 20 minutes. If there is no obstacle to local anesthesia in patients, this anesthesia method is more comfortable. Patients are discharged on the same day after surgery.
What Should You Do in the Post-operative Process?
During the first 72 hours of the operation, edoema and swelling may occur in the operation area, and you can apply short-term ice compressions during the day. Painkillers are used for post-operative pain. Usually, edoema and swelling on the patient’s face end in 7 days, and the patient should be rested during this period. After a week, you can return to your routine. The permanent image of your lip becomes evident after about 1 month. During your recovery period, avoid smoking, sleeping on your stomach, exercising heavily, and opening your mouth too much. Pay attention to the cleaning and dressing of your wound, do not worry; our doctors will inform you in detail about this. You can apply to have your stitches removed on the 5th post-operative
Will my lip fall again after surgery?
As in all surgical procedures, after a while, the distance between the lip and the nose will increase with the effect of gravity, but this is an event that takes a very long time. Post-operative permanence is between 10 and 20 years on average. In short, the lip lift application is long-lasting.
Is It Understandable That I Have Aesthetics?
As we said before, permanent effects begin to be seen after 1 month. In this process, the redness around the lips can be covered with the necessary make-up materials, and then it is challenging for people to understand. However, as in every procedure, the natural image depends on the surgeon’s skill. At UNIMED, we serve you with our expert and talented surgeons.
Which operations can be combined with lip lifting?
A lip lift operation can be combined with many facial aesthetic procedures. It can be combined with a lip augmentation, facelift, eyelid aesthetics, rhinoplasty.
Lip reduction is a cosmetic surgical procedure designed to make smaller the size and improve the overall appearance of disproportionately large or protruding lips. This method aims to create a more balanced and harmonious facial aesthetic by resizing the lips to fit the patient’s facial features better.
The surgery is typically performed under local anesthesia, sometimes with sedation, to ensure patient comfort. During the surgery, the plastic surgeon makes a horizontal incision along the inside of the lip, where it is hidden from view. Excess lip tissue is carefully removed, and the incisions are closed with sutures. The entire process usually takes about 1–2 hours.
Recovery from lip reduction surgery generally takes 1-2 weeks, with most patients able to return to work and their daily activities within a week. Swelling, bruising, and mild discomfort are expected in the initial days following the procedure, but these symptoms gradually subside over time. Patients are advised to follow their surgeon’s post-operative care instructions closely to ensure a smooth healing process and optimal results.
Lip reduction surgery offers long-lasting results, helping patients achieve a more proportionate and attractive lip appearance. As with any cosmetic procedure, having realistic expectations and consulting a qualified plastic surgeon is crucial to determine if lip reduction is the right choice for you.
CORRECTION OF LIP WRINKLES: It can be done with many combined methods;
By combining both filler and laser, the results will be much better. Wrinkles on the lips occur due to the tissues melting under the skin. Traumas created by continuous mimic movements soften the subcutaneous and adipose tissue in the form of lines and can create deep grooves under the skin. For this reason, putting these melted tissues in their place and removing the skin from the top with laser peeling can bring them into much better shape.
Combined Approaches in Lip Aesthetics
Correction of teeth is possible by raising the contour in harmony with the contours of the teeth.
Improving the aesthetics of the lip by filling the collapsed appearance in the maxilla and mandible either with their own cartilage or bones or with their own fat tissue and providing the contour.
The importance of the nose should not be forgotten in the image of this lip, which is in the middle of the nose and chin, and if necessary, this image should be improved with nose surgery.