Lip Enhancement and Augmentation
Like many facial features, the lips lose their volume and contour with age. Lips that were once full, defined and sensual may become flat or thin over time. Not only does your smile lose its attractive frame, but your overall facial appearance can suffer as well. At Hillcrest Plastic Surgery, we help patients regain the beautiful lips of their youth. Dr. Spence and Dr. Ovalle are leading facial plastic surgeons who understand how to sculpt attractive and balanced lips. They perform both lip enhancement and lip augmentation procedures using the most proven, long-lasting techniques available.
When choosing Hillcrest Plastic Surgery for your cosmetic lip procedure, you can trust that your results will look natural and not overdone. To accommodate the unique needs and preferences of each patient, Dr. Spence and Dr. Ovalle offer both surgical and non-surgical lip procedures. These range from fat grafting and fillers to plump thin lips, to a complete lip reconstruction to address congenital lip deformities or trauma.
Hillcrest Plastic Surgery is proud to offer the following procedures to improve your lip appearance:
Who is an Ideal Candidate for Lip Enhancement?
With various options for enhancing the shape and definition of the lips, most healthy adults make good candidates. When you visit Hillcrest Plastic Surgery and Dermatology to discuss lip augmentation, you can learn about the different techniques that may be appropriate for you. Your conversation with the doctor can give you insight into the treatment that feels most accessible and satisfying.
What Are the Most Common Kinds of Lip Enhancement?
The most common form of lip enhancement is to receive injectable fillers. We now have dermal fillers that are made specifically for the lip area. These products are delicate enough to fill in the fine lines that can appear around the lips, such as smoker's lines. They are robust enough to fill in a lip body that has become deflated or one that has never been naturally plump and shapely. Dermal fillers are advantageous because they require very little preparation or aftercare and they achieve immediate results. The downside is they are temporary. After dermal fillers, fat grafting is the next most common form of lip enhancement. This process requires that the doctor take some fat cells from a part of your body, such as your abdomen or thighs. After separating pure fat cells from other fluids, the doctor injects the fat into lines, creases, or the body of your lips as needed to achieve your desired improvement. There may be a bit of downtime associated with fat grafting, but the results achieved with this process are long-lasting.
How Does Fat Grafting for Lips Work?
Fat grafting is a popular method of lip enhancement that can achieve results that last many years, if not indefinitely. To begin the treatment, the doctor removes a small amount of fat from an area of your body. This is done using a minimally-invasive liposuction technique performed using a local anesthetic. The fat that is extracted is mixed in with blood and fluid. To separate the fat cells, the team processes the vial or vials of the product using a high-velocity machine. Once the fat is separated from other cells and fluids, it is placed into syringes. Your lips may be anesthetized for the injections through an application of topical numbing cream or minor injections of a local anesthetic. This will make your treatment only minimally uncomfortable. The fat cells are injected into lines, wrinkles, and the body or border of your lips as needed to smooth the skin, refine definition, and increase volume. The end product is a beautifully-shaped mouth.
Is Lip Augmentation Permanent?
Lip augmentation via fat grafting to the lips can achieve permanent results. Some of the transferred cells may die off and get absorbed. Those that remain and develop blood supply should stay in place forever. With age, it is possible that the lips may deflate to some degree. The extent of deflation is difficult to predict. Fortunately, you can schedule touch-up lip enhancement in the future using either dermal fillers or fat.
How Long Does Lip Enhancement Last?
The effects of your lip enhancement may degrade over time due to aging or the absorption of the product that has been injected. If you choose to enhance the shape of your lips using dermal fillers, your results may last about one year. This will depend on the type of filler that is selected for you. Dermal fillers used for lip augmentation are generally lighter and softer. They are manufactured purposefully to retain the softness of the lips. Due to the lighter consistency, lip fillers tend to dissolve more quickly than other fillers. That said, a yearly touch-up may be sufficient to sustain consistent fullness and definition.
We understand that there are many elements of consideration when creating ideal lip aesthetics. Whether you want cosmetic improvement after a cleft lip repair or you want to address the signs of aging in the lips, we have the expertise and experience to give you the best possible outcome. Restoring patient confidence through excellence in plastic surgery is what we do best. Contact Hillcrest Plastic Surgery in Orlando at 407-999-2585 to schedule your lip augmentation or lip enhancement consultation with Dr. Spence or Dr. Ovalle today.