What we treat / Lines around the mouth
Lines Around the Mouth
The fine vertical lines above your top lip are made by the ring of muscle that closes your mouth, working against skin that has thinned and lost its border. They are one of the harder things on the face to treat well, because the muscle has to keep working for you to eat and speak. The approach that holds combines a very small amount of relaxation, support rebuilt at the lip border, and something that works on the skin itself.
Why they happen
A ring of muscle surrounds the mouth and purses it. Every time you drink through a straw, speak or kiss, it gathers the skin above the lip inward. That skin is thin, has few oil glands and almost no fat beneath it, so it creases readily and recovers slowly.
The lines get their chance when the firm border of the lip softens. With a crisp edge the creases stop at the lip line. Without one they run straight across it, which is also why lipstick starts to travel.
How Dr. Mauer treats it
Part of the answer
Botox & Neuromodulators
A very small amount into the ring muscle so it gathers the skin less hard. The dose here is a fraction of what goes into a forehead, because this muscle has to keep doing its job.
Read about BotoxUsually alongside
Dermal Fillers
Rebuilding the lip border gives the lines an edge to stop at, which does more for the area than filling each line would. Dr. Mauer treats the border rather than chasing individual creases.
Read about dermal fillersFor the skin itself
Laser & Skin Resurfacing
Where the lines stay visible with the mouth completely still, the crease is in the skin and resurfacing is what treats it. This is the area where a combination usually beats any one treatment.
Read about laser and skin treatmentsWhat to expect
- Appointment
- 30 to 45 minutes
- Discomfort
- Numbing cream first, then pressure more than pain
- Downtime
- Swelling for a few days, occasional bruising
- Visible
- Injectables settle over 2 to 4 weeks
- Lasts
- Varies by treatment, and this area is usually a plan rather than one visit
Results for this concern
Individual results vary. Photographs are published only with each patient’s written consent.
Questions about lines around the mouth
Will it affect how I speak or drink?+
Not at the doses used here. The muscle is asked to pull slightly less hard, not to stop. Too much in this area does interfere with a straw or a hard consonant, which is precisely why the amount is small and why it matters who is holding the needle.
I have never smoked. Why do I have these?+
Most people with these lines have never smoked. They come from ordinary use of the muscle combined with thin skin and a softening lip border. The nickname is unhelpful and inaccurate.
Can they be removed completely?+
Softened, usually. Erased, rarely, and anyone promising that is overselling. Dr. Mauer will tell you at the consultation what is realistic for the lines you actually have.
Why does more than one treatment get suggested here?+
Because there are genuinely two problems, a muscle and the skin, and one treatment only addresses one of them. This is the area of the face where doing a single thing produces the most disappointing result.
