Correction of the aging lip must address volume, proportion and surface texture. Full lips and an upper lip that is in proportion with the face is a sign of beauty and youth. As we age we lose volume in our lips and the upper lip can lengthen. This has a tendency to hide the teeth. When the lip lengthens it can also cause transverse lines/wrinkles to appear when the patient smiles. The corners of the mouth can often descend resulting in an unhappy appearance.

While hyaluronic acid filler is an excellent choice for lip augmentation in the right candidate, many patients require lip lifting to restore proper youthful proportions to the perioral area.  

Lip Lift is a procedure where the distance between the nose and the upper lip is strategically shortened in order to expose more of the red lip and occasionally a desirable amount of tooth show.

From a lateral view this can “roll” the lip up creating a youthful appearing lip rather than a flat straight line.

The results are very long lasting and the incision is well hidden when performed expertly.

A corner mouth lift is often combined with the upper lip lift in order to avoid an exaggerated appearance. This helps the result to look more natural and youthful. Many of the obvious and unattractive lip lift results come from failing to address the lip comprehensively with volume and a corner lift.

A v-y mucosal advancement plus fat transfer can help add permanent volume to the lip and more red lip show in cases where shortening the white lip would be undesirable.

The final component is the surface texture of the lip and this may need to be further corrected at a later stage with laser resurfacing, deep peel, or dermabrasion.

Dr. Ivey is one of the few surgeons who has performed hundreds of lip lifting procedures. This procedure can be performed under local anesthesia very comfortably.