Lips Correction (lip augmentation)
Patients very often talk to the surgeon about thickening, filling and augmentation of upper, lower or both lips. There are several options to solve the problems and the procedure depends on what the patient and the surgeon agree.
The extension of lip’s rosy area is possible to be achieved by surgical procedure and the scar is located in vermilion i.e. the borderline between the skin and the rosy area of the lips. The procedure may be performed either under local or general anesthesia according to the patient’s wish and in accordance with that, preoperative procedure is different as well as post-operation recovery. Operation may result in extension of the rosy area of the lips only, but not their volume.
Apart from operative procedure, it is possible to make a lip thicker using various fillers or just highlight the line of a lip or increase its volume. If the lip line is highlighted, slight extension of skin in upper and lower lip occurs, so small wrinkles may be reduced considerably, if they exist in this area.
Different artificial fillers may be used and they consist of gelatin substance that varies in density and duration of an accomplished effect. At our hospital we use fillers based on hyaluronic acid (Puragen, MENTOR), the accomplished effect lasts from six to twelve months, and then the effect disappears rapidly. Apart from these there are fillers with longer effect. These include biopolymers that represent the combination of silicone and collagen, and the effect lasts for about a year and a half to two years. There are also fillers whose effects last for many years and they contain high percentage of water; this enables the constant exchange of water molecules with surrounding tissue and due to that the filler is able to incorporate in the host tissue in a certain way, which essentially extends its effect.
The intervention is performed in local anesthesia, lasts a couple of minutes, immediate swelling occurs in the area where the filler is placed, so it is advised to apply cold compresses on lips for a few days and the final effect is most frequently visible four days upon the intervention.
