The relationship between the lips and beauty is an interesting one. In the 1980s thin lips were considered attractive whereas in the 1990s big lips were the in thing (think Pamela Anderson) and in the naughties we have landed somewhere in the middle in a more natural look. Given the dynamic nature of the association between the size of lips and beauty if you are thinking of enhancing your lips then you should probably think about going for a temporary (or at least reversible) option – who knows what is just around the corner in the next beauty trend.

Patients who request lip enhancement usually fall into one of two categories. The first group is the younger patient who simply wants to enhance their natural pout and increasing the volume of their lips. The classic technique often practiced to achieve this involves injecting filler around the border of the lip, the so-called vermillion border augmentation. If you look at someone who has naturally attractive lips however, for example Angelina Jolie, she does not have a defined lip border and neither does any other person with attractive lips. In fact, the only people who have ‘defined’ vermillion borders are people who have had their lips injected and it can be a classical tell-tale sign of someone having the treatment done badly. For a good example of how lips should not look take a peak at Katie Price (a.k.a. Jordan) and see what you think. To create a more natural and attractive looking lip augmentation it is essential to inject the filler (Restylane / Teosyal / deJuvederm) into the red part of the lip, the part that is naturally larger in people with attractive lips.

The second group of patients who request lip enhancement are the older patients who want to restore the size and shape of lips they had when they were younger. As we get older the lips naturally become thinner, the cupid’s bow flattens, the corners of the mouth start to turn down the way creating at a sad appearance and vertical lines appear which radiate outwards from the mouth. In this group of patients there has to be accurate diagnosis of which features are contributing to their ageing appearance and tailoring of the dermal filler injection technique to address each problem individually. If you are going for this sort of treatment expect the doctor to be describing each of the features individually to you and telling you how he plans to correct it. If your doctors is not explaining these things to you be sure to ask. If the answers are still not forthcoming then maybe it is time to find another doctor!