Explore Plastic Surgery

Many female patients today seek rejuvenation procedures whici involve making the mouth area look better or less aged. As women age, some will lose lip volume, develope upper and lower lip wrinkles, and have the corners of the mouth draw down. This often creates a sad, mad, or unhappy appearance to the lip area. Most commonly, lip injections with hyaluronic fillers such as Juvaderm, Restylane, or Perlane are done to enhance the size of the lips, help fill out some of the fine wrinkles which are around the pink part of the lips, and raise up the mouth corners to some degree. While these forms of injectable treatments are effective and non-invasive, they are not permanent.
The corner of the mouth lift is a surgical option that has lasting effects. It is an old procedure that has been around for many decades. The corner of the mouth lift should be more popular than it is given that it is a minor procedure that can be performed alone in the office or as part of many other facial rejuvenation procedures. By taking a small triangle of skin from just above the drooping mouth corner, the downhanging mouth corner can be turned up quickly and easily. It is a very powerful procedure for such a small removal of skin and one must be careful not to overdo it by raising the corner of the mouth too far up and having too long of a scar. It does create a very small scar at the corner of the mouth but it is nearly indetectable if done right.
The key to a good corner of the mouth lift result is making the mouth corner level, and not more, and keeping the scar small that does not wander far from the corner of the mouth. Many facelift patients mistakenly think that the facelift will pull up the corner which is a misunderstanding. That is why some facelift patients with ‘frowns’ needs a concurrent corner of the mouth lift procedure.
I have found this procedure to be well accepted and most patients are surprised when I mention it as they have never heard of it. As an in-office procedure, it works well with lip injections and lip lifts and advancements. The frown that runs down into the ‘marionette lines’ will usually need filling of the deeper marionette line with injectable synthetic fillers, fat grafts, or a soft gore-tex implant, depending upon whether the procedure is done in the office or the oeprating room. For those patients with chronic irritation due to salivary overflow (a condition known as angular cheilitis), a corner of the mouth may even be curative as it rearranges the angulation of the ’spout’ and creating a more competent lip dam effect.
Dr. Barry Eppley
http://www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com
http://www.ologyspa.com
Clarian North Medical Center, Carmel, Indiana
Clarian West Medical Center, Avon, Indiana
Indianapolis

Lifting the Upper Lip from the Nose!

The most dramatic method of increasing the size of the upper lip is the lip lift procedure. To expose more pink of the upper lip (which can dramatically increase its size), skin is removed from just above the pink portion of the upper lip. This cut out pattern is made like a ‘cupid’s bow’ (which is often necessary given that many small upper lips have little definition and are quite ‘flat’) which provides nice shape to the upper lip in the central most pouty area. This procedure, however, is not that commonly done as injectable fillers do very nicely for most people and do not leave a scar. They are, of course, not permanent. However, in those with a very thin upper lip particularly older patients who also have some upper lip lines and wrinkles,, the lip scar may well be a reasonable trade-off ffor the permanency of the result.

Another option to lift the upper lip is not to place the scar at the upper lip but to place it beneath the nose. This is called a subnasal lip lift. In this procedure, the cutout of skin is done right under the nose, so when it is closed, the scar lies in the natural groove at the base of the nose. This does hide the scar well. As the width of the cutout of skin is just the width of the nose, only the central portion of the upper lip (cupid’s bow area) actually gets lifted. The sides of the upper lip stay the same as they get no effect of the central upward pull from the skin cutout. This is the other difference that distinguishes the subnasal lip lift from the more traditional upper lip advancement. Which operation is best depends on what upper lip problem the patient has and where they can ‘deal’ with the scar placement.

Dr Barry Eppley
www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com
www.ologyspa.com
Clarian North Medical Center, Carmel, Indiana
Clarian West Medical Center, Avon, Indiana
Indianapolis