Quick Facts
- What It Is: Volumizes lips and fills in lip lines with artificial lip implants, fat transfer, or lip fillers
- Reasons Why: Naturally thin lips, lost lip volume, or lip wrinkles
- Procedure: Outpatient
- Anesthesia: General
- Duration of Procedure: 10-90 minutes, depending on procedure
- Initial Recovery Phase: No downtime for fillers but several days for lip implants or fat transfer
- Results: Immediate with continued improvement
Lip augmentation adds volume to thin or thinning lips for a more luscious lip appearance and youthful pout. Dr. Maguire at Physician’s Center for Beauty in Louisville offers several ways to enhance your lips, including lip implants, lip fillers, and fat transfer. Depending on your cosmetic goals, lip augmentation results can provide temporary or permanent results.
Why Have Lip Augmentation?
Many women struggle with thin lips that may not fit with their other facial features, or experience deepening lines and creases in the lips and around the mouth. Lip augmentation provides fuller lips for a younger appearance with little to no downtime, depending on the procedure and technique. Results may last up to a year or, if a lip implant is used, provide permanent lip enhancement, but if desired, this can be reversible either by removing an implant or using hyaluronidase to break down hyaluronic acid from a lip filler.
Is Lip Augmentation Right for Me?
Most people with thin or wrinkled lips may qualify for lip augmentation as long as they do not have an active infection around their lips, such as a cold sore. We routinely prescribe medication to prevent cold sores, which you will start the day of the procedure and continue for five days. You should be in good health with no chronic conditions that may complicate the procedure, including uncontrolled diabetes or lupus.
Most lip fillers are made with hyaluronic acid and don’t require allergy or skin testing beforehand. Fat transfer lip augmentation harvests fat cells from a donor location, so you must have enough stubborn fat to collect for the procedure (though lip enhancement with fat grafting uses minimal fat to achieve the desired results). Lip implants may have different requirements.
Generally, if you are unhappy with your lip size or shape, you are likely a good candidate for lip augmentation.
What Types of Lip Augmentation Are Available?
The right lip augmentation procedure for you depends on your anatomy and cosmetic concerns. Lip implants are best for patients looking for permanent results that won’t fade over time. However, lip fillers increase lip size without a long-term commitment, and fat grafting uses your own tissues to enhance the lips.
Fat Grafting (Autologous Fat Injections)
Autologous fat injections use liposuction to remove unwanted fat from one area of the body (typically the abdomen), purify the fat cells, and re-inject them into the lips. Fat grafting results may last five years or longer, but some transferred cells may resorb into the body during recovery. The procedure takes 60 to 90 minutes and starts with liposuction. Your lips may appear larger than desired at first due to swelling but will shrink to the ideal size.
Lip Fillers
Dermal fillers for lip augmentation are typically made with hyaluronic acid, a compound found naturally in your body. These FDA-approved gels are injected into the lips or the skin around the mouth. Some lip fillers contain lidocaine to numb your skin and reduce discomfort. The procedure is short (10 to 30 minutes) and performed in our Louisville office. Dr. Maguire uses a fine needle to inject the lip filler for immediate results that last six months to a year. Botox is sometimes used for the “Botox lip flip” to give the impression of bigger lips by elevating the top of the upper lip.
Lip Implants
The lip implant procedure takes around 30 minutes and provides permanent results, though the implants can be removed if you’re not happy with your results. Dr. Maguire numbs the lips and makes a tiny incision in each corner of the mouth. He creates a tunnel through the lips using a curved instrument that threads the implant from one side of the lip to the other. Our plastic surgeon closes the incisions with stitches.
What Is the Recovery Like?
Recovery or downtime after lip augmentation depends on the type of procedure. Lip fillers provide immediate results with no downtime, though you may have some swelling and injection site soreness for a few days. Fat transfer lip augmentation is a twofold recovery: the lipo-suctioned area may have a compression garment, and you must be careful with your lips to ensure maximum fat survival. Lip implants require a soft-food diet for a few days and limited lip movement. Sleep with your head elevated after lip implants and use an icepack to reduce swelling.
Dr. Maguire will provide recovery instructions after your lip augmentation procedure that explain how to care for your mouth area, medications to prevent cold sores and warning signs of complications.
You can return to work immediately after nonsurgical lip augmentation, but surgical lip augmentation with implants or fat transfer (due to liposuction) requires some downtime with activity limitations for a few weeks.
Learn More About Lip Augmentation
If you’re interested in lip enhancement, schedule a consultation at Physician’s Center for Beauty in Louisville, Kentucky. Contact Dr. Maguire and our highly skilled team of medical professionals at (502)- 897-7546.
