What we treat / Thin or uneven lips
Thin or Uneven Lips
Lips lose volume and, more noticeably, they lose their border. The crisp edge between lip and skin softens, the upper lip lengthens and rolls inward, and the corners turn down. Restoring the border and the shape is what makes lips look like themselves again rather than bigger. The amount of product involved is usually far smaller than people expect, because what reads as a good result is structure rather than size.
Why it happens
Lips are held in shape by a ridge of tissue around their border and by the volume behind it. Both thin with time. As the border softens the lip loses its outline, and fine vertical lines start to cross it because there is no longer a firm edge for them to stop at.
At the same time the distance between the nose and the top of the lip slowly increases, so the upper lip appears to roll under and show less. This is why a lip can look thinner without actually having lost much volume, and why simply adding product to the body of the lip often makes the proportion worse.
How Dr. Mauer treats it
The main treatment
Dermal Fillers
A small amount of a soft filler used to rebuild the border and support the shape, rather than to inflate the lip. Dr. Mauer injects every patient himself and works in fractions of a syringe here.
Read about dermal fillersSometimes, alongside
Botox & Neuromodulators
A very small amount in the muscle around the mouth lets the upper lip roll outward and show more of itself without adding anything. Injectors call it a lip flip, and for some lips it does more than filler would.
Read about BotoxWhat to expect
- Appointment
- 30 to 45 minutes
- Discomfort
- Numbing cream first, then pressure more than pain
- Downtime
- Swelling for two to three days is normal here
- Visible
- Immediately, settling over 2 to 4 weeks
- Lasts
- 9 to 18 months for most people
Results for this concern
Individual results vary. Photographs are published only with each patient’s written consent.
Questions about thin or uneven lips
Will they look obviously done?+
Not if the aim is the border and the shape rather than the size. The results people notice as obvious are almost always volume added to a lip that had lost its structure. Dr. Mauer declines to add more than the lip will carry, which is occasionally a conversation patients do not expect to have.
How swollen will I be?+
Lips swell more than anywhere else on the face, and for two or three days they will look fuller than the final result. Leave two weeks before an event rather than two days.
Can it be undone?+
Yes. Hyaluronic acid fillers dissolve with an enzyme, and that is one reason they are used here.
I have had lip filler before and did not like it. Is that fixable?+
Usually. It often starts with dissolving what is there, letting the lip settle, then reassessing from a clean base. Bring any record you have of what was used.
