Lip Augmentation and Enhancement

Full lips are often considered a sign of health, beauty and youth. Lips that are plump and well defined can also be a symbol of sensuality. Unfortunately, as the lips age with the rest of the face, they lose volume, become thinner, and the outer corners droop. The appearance of tiny vertical lines may also occur, particularly in those who smoke. Additionally, the upper white lip lengthens and the cupid’s bow becomes less defined. Lip augmentation or lip enhancement procedures are ideal for patients who want to reverse the signs of aging in the lips or for those that were born with naturally thin lips.

At Kalos Facial Plastic Surgery, LLC, we offer both surgical and non-surgical techniques to improve the appearance of your lips. Dr. Benjamin Stong, who is a Fellowship trained dual board certified facial plastic surgeon, is deeply committed to helping you achieve the natural, beautiful results you desire using tailored and customized lip augmentation procedures. He will listen to your specific goals and discus the surgical and non-surgical alternatives to restore volume and beauty to your lips.

Lip augmentation is one of the most popular procedures in facial plastic surgery. Depending on your choice of lip enhancement procedure, it involves little to no downtime. The most common lip augmentation procedure is to add volume using hyaluronic acid fillers injections for temporary fullness. Surgical options that use your body’s own natural soft tissue offer a more permanent result.

Kalos Facial Plastic Surgery LLC is proud to offer the following lip augmentation procedures:

Schedule Your Lip Enhancement Consultation

To gain a better understanding of the lip augmentation procedures that Dr. Stong offers, please contact Kalos Facial Plastic Surgery, LLC today. We empower patients with confidence by providing the most advanced techniques in plastic surgery and a surgeon who understands how to successfully implement them.

Lip Plastic Surgery FAQs:

What is a Lip Augmentation or Enhancement procedure?

A Lip augmentation can be either a surgical or non-surgical procedure that restores fullness and volume to the lips. Hyaluronic acid fillers are the most commonly used material to plump and enhance the appearance of the lips without surgery. However, lip injections only provide temporary results. Dr. Stong performs a wide variety of lip augmentation or enhancement procedures, ranging from lip injections to surgical lip lifts, V to Y lip augmentation and lip dermal fat grafting. The procedure that is best for you will be based on whether or not you desire permanent results and what Dr. Stong determines is best suited to achieve your individual goals.

Am I a candidate for a lip augmentation or enhancement procedure?

A lip augmentation can be performed on patients of all ages to address thinning lips due to the natural aging process or for those that were born with thin lips. The best candidates are those that want to restore facial balance and improve lips that are uneven, shapeless, sagging or thin. As with any cosmetic surgery, patients should be in good overall health and have realistic expectations about their lip enhancement procedure. After a thorough consultation and examination, Dr. Stong can determine if a lip augmentation is right for you.

What is a lip injection?

Lip injections involve the use of hyaluronic acid fillers to plump the lips. Unlike surgical lip augmentation, lip injections are temporary solutions and require multiple treatments to maintain results. However, they are excellent for patients who want to avoid the cost and time associated with surgery. Lip Augmentation with filler injections can restore volume to the lips, address “lipstick bleed lines” and improve the fine lines that develop around the mouth with age. To avoid unnatural or “duck lip” results, it is important to choose a skilled and experienced plastic surgeon. Dr. Stong carefully selects and precisely places a filler product that will bring patients the most improved and natural results. Products such as Juvederm and Restylane are frequently used in non-surgical lip augmentation.

Are lip injections bruise free?

Using Dr. Stong’s advanced micro-cannula technique, patients are able to achieve natural and beautiful results with no bruising and minimal swelling. When a micro-cannula or blunt-tip cannula is used instead of a sharp hypodermic needle, the likelihood of piercing a blood vessel is dramatically reduced, which makes consequential bruising almost nonexistent. This revolutionary technique also provides improved accuracy and safety as well. Dr. Stong is one of very few plastic surgeons in the country who use this bruise free injection technique almost exclusively when offering injection treatments.

What is a lip lift?

For patients who have thinning lips, sagging corners of the lip and/or lengthening of the upper lip should consider a lip lift. A sub nasal lip lift is commonly used to reduce the vertical height of the upper lip to achieve more tooth show as well as improve red lip show. Two to three millimeters of frontal tooth show is considered ideal and aesthetically pleasing. A lip that has drooping corners can project a sad or angry appearance and can be addressed with an outer corner lip lift. Dr. Stong offers a variety of advanced lip lift techniques, including the subnasal lip lift and corner lip lift. Lip lifts are done in the office under local anesthesia.

What is a V to Y lip augmentation?

The V to Y lip augmentation is a surgical technique that can produce the fullest lips. This is the gold standard solution for permanently restoring ideal lip volume. The incisions are placed discreetly inside the mouth resulting in no external scarring. The V to Y lip augmentation can be done as a single, in-office procedure. Only a select number of doctors across the country offer the V to Y lip augmentation and Dr. Stong is proudly one of them.

What is a SMAS lip graft?

The SMAS lip graft, or Superficial Musculoaponeurotic System Graft, involves the use of fibro fatty tissue (the SMAS) that was removed during a facelift and placed into the upper or lower lips through tiny incisions inside the corner of the mouth. It is ideal for patients who desire permanent volume restoration of the lips who are also undergoing a facelift procedure.

What is lip dermal fat grafting?

Lip dermal fat grafting is a permanent method for augmenting the lips. The dermal-fat graft is taken from the skin and fat of the abdomen with the incision placed in the bikini line. The grafts are then carefully placed in the upper and lower lip to add fullness. The advantages of lip dermal fat grafts include the predictability of the augmentation and the ability to provide permanent surgical results with a single procedure.

What is a lip reduction?

Lips that are too large or protruding can distract a person’s natural beauty and disrupt proper balance to the face. A lip reduction is an excellent solution to correct excessively large lips. The incisions are placed on the inside of the lip. It is an in-office procedure that gives permanent results.

How to I avoid unnatural results from a lip augmentation procedure?

As with any cosmetic procedure involving the face, choosing a skilled, talented and experienced plastic surgeon is vital to the success of your results. It is of crucial importance that you select a plastic surgeon who approaches lip augmentation with careful consideration to refinement and contouring as well as volumization. Dr. Stong is highly trained in lip augmentation. He has a keen eye for the ideal appearance of the lips, which includes consideration of the Cupid’s Bow, lip volume, tooth show and vertical height of the upper lift. Unnatural results commonly occur when the lips were over-filled or treated too simplistically for additional volume alone.

Are lip implants safe and effective?

Lip implants are inserted through tiny incisions inside the corners of the mouth. There are multiple types of lip implant options, but most commonly silicone and gortex are used. In general, silicone and gortex lip implants do not look or feel natural. They also tend to have a higher risk for infection and extrusion. Dr. Stong offers a full menu of safe and proven procedures to restore permanent volume to the lips. He can discuss the effectiveness of each procedure as it relates to your specific goals and comfort level.

Are fat transfers to the lips a good procedure?

In general fat transfers are not recommended as a lip augmentation procedure. The survival of the grafts is not as predictable or precise as one would like. Additionally, the appearance can be quite lumpy following fat transfers, and the lips almost always feel unnatural.

 

Disclaimer: These Are Actual Results For Patients Of Dr. Benjamin Stong. Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery Results Can Vary Between Patients.