Am I A Good Candidate For A Subnasal Lip Lift With Smile Widening?

Q: Dr. Eppley, Hello Doctor! I’ve read many of your answers and have seen your results and would love to go to you for my lip aug. I was wondering how you do the smile/lip widening and bull horn lip lift. I just had one syringe of lip filler last month for vertical height.

A:Thank you for your inquiry and sending your pictures. They dilemma that you have with your upper lip is that the central part is very long from a skin standpoint with a good cupid’s bow shape but the sides of the upper lip vermilion are very thin. Thus a subnasal lip lift done alone, which only affects the central portion of the upper lip, is going to create a significant upper lip vermilion disparity when the cupid’s bow area vermilion gets bigger and the sides of the upper lip remain the same. As a result a subnasal lip lift has to be combined with direct lateral vermilion lifts to keep the upper lip vermilion show more in balance. The other alternative is a total upper lip vermilion advancement, which is what you really need, but the fine line scar across the whole upper lip is more than I would do when you have such a good cupid’s bow shape.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana