Lip Fat Injections

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in lip fat injections. I am 33 years old and  starting to age and I feel it especially shows in my overly thin lips. I like more volume. I don’t like how long my upper lip is also. Id like to look more feminine and soft looking for a sexy more dramatic look. I wish I had more lip to show and some tooth show. However I am terrified of scars with lip lift. I want a more permanent solution over fillers. Also I have some asymmetry on the right side where I have less upper lip. I would like more sultry lips.

A: Thank you for sending your pictures for consideration for lip fat injections. With you thinner lips there are several realities that you need to know about lip augmentation with fat:

1) The best and most permanent augmentation result is going to come from a vermilion advancement. (not a subnasal lip lift) But since you are terrified of scars your best lip augmentation treatment is not an option.

2) Fat injections are unreliable in terms of retention and permanency. They rarely are permanent with a single injection session.

3) In thinner lips any type of injectable volume augmentation makes them fuller but may or may not create the lip shape you desire. As a general rule, any injected volume to the lips makes them bigger but usually maintains the same overall shape.

40 More tooth show is not going to come from adding volume to the lips, only lip lifts and advancements can achieve that effect.

5) It would be in you interest to have a synthetic injectable filler treatment first before trying surgical fat injections. You want to know if an injectable approach can achieve the look you desire. As if you do fat injectionks and it does not create the look you like and it persists, there is no reversing it.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana