Lip Injections are the New Botulinum Toxin

Full, luscious lips signify youth and sexual desirability. Given our collective desire to remain looking young, it’s no surprise that plump lips courtesy of facial fillers are slowly gaining acceptance in the same way people today has fully embraced Botulinum Toxin.

The process is safe, quick and well-tolerated, the gels used are bio-absorbable and reversible, and if done by a highly trained doctor, the results look and feel natural.

Why the Obsession for Full Lips?

From an evolutionary standpoint, voluptuous lips suggested strong mating potential, which is perhaps why those with the plumpest pouts are considered the embodiment of beauty and sensuality. And this makes perfect scientific sense: the one with the fullest lips is the one with the most collagen, which suggests youthful vitality, a crucial factor when looking for a healthy mate.

Lip injections are not going to flame out anytime soon. The obsession for full pouts is here to stay, if the numbers (among adolescents and adults alike) are any indication. The Kylie Jenner challenge had everyone talking about lip injections, and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons has numbers to back up the trend: In 2015, one lip implant was performed every 20 minutes. It’s a 50% increase from 2000.

Skin Fillers as Lip Injections

If you are not ready to get that permanent pout, or you are afraid of going under the knife, you can still have a full mouth with nothing more than a quick prick to your lips. There’s no worry about it being overdone or looking unnaturally puffy, either.

Patients remain conscious during the entire procedure (there is no general anesthesia involved, only numbing cream applied to the lips) they can provide real-time guidance to doctors as to how plumpy they want their lips. Some slight bruising appears after the procedure, but that normally settles within a few hours.

Much like Botulinum Toxin when it was first introduced, getting lip fillers was initially looked down upon, perhaps because the earliest lip fillers were made from paraffin, liquid silicone, and in the 1980s, collagen harvested from cows. Like the ‘toxin’ in Botulinum Toxin that worried early adopters, lip fillers from these sources were thought to have adverse effects on general health.

Absorbable and Reversible Lip Augmentation

It’s already been 20 years since hyaluronic acid (as Restylane) was first introduced as dermal fillers – initially for face contouring as fillers for cheeks and now also as nose fillers – and the injectable gels have changed for the better ever since. Hyaluronic acid, in particular, is completely bio-absorbable because it’s the same jelly-like substance found in your eyes, joints and skin. Over time, they stimulate the creation of new collagen, which is why experienced doctors know not to over-inject during the first treatment, as the results often show after two to three weeks, which is when you can go back to your doctor to decide if you want some more.

Conversely, lip enhancement using hyaluronic acid is completely reversible, which means you can go in another direction, without the costs, risks and downtime attendant to surgical lip augmentation, if the initial results were not to your satisfaction.

Tags: Fillers, Face Contouring