Can Injectable Fillers Make A Thin Lip Full?

Q: I am interested in getting my upper lip made bigger. It is very thin and it barely shows at all. It is very embarrassing to have such a thin upper lip when so many women have nice full lips. I think a bigger lip would make me look better and more attractive. I want to get injectable fillers into it because that seems to work well for most people. But I don’t want to look like I have a big fat upper lip or have duck lips. How can I get injectable fillers without causing that problem?l

A: Most lip augmentation patients want a natural look. Very few want their lips too look like they have had something done, although some people do end up looking that way.The success of having a natural looking result in the upper lip with injectable fillers is based on how much native vermilion tissue (pink part of the lips) you have. The most common reason one ends up with the infamous duck lips is that too much filler has been placed into the lips. A more full upper lip can take more filler and still loko natural. But a thin upper lip can take very little without creating a pufffy look.  This is because in the thin upper lip the injectable filler does more pushing out rathe than up because there is not enough tissue. When it comes to injectable fillers in athin lip like yours, you have to realize that you can never really end up with a nice full lip look that many women desire. You just don’t have enough vermilion to do it.

What you would more ideally benefit from is an upper lip advancement which directly treats the actual problem and is permanent. But because that involves a fine line scar, I would recommend that you first do an injectable filler treatment and see of you like the results. If you do, then just continue with periodic filler treatments. If you don’t, then you know that there is another option which can give a much fuller lip that is permanent.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis Indiana