Injectable fillers are the most common method of lip enhancement. It is a quick and easy procedure, albeit not completely painless, that produces an immediately gratifying lip result. One of the most common fears of many lip injection patients is that they will end up with a lip that is too big or unnatural. This concern is understandable as society abounds with many examples of overfilled and excessively pouty lips that are the direct result of injectable filler therapy. While those women obviously wanted that result, most women that I see do not and want a more natural and less obvious lip augmentation result.
The lip injection method that I use to get the patient exactly the lip result they want is what I call the ‘Layer and Look’ technique. This is a simple method that anyone can do. Once the lips are properly anesthetized through local anesthetic blocks, I first place a layer of injectable filler along the vermilion-cutaneous border. (junction of pink vermilion with skin) This is an area that enhances the roll area of the lip and is the area that most women want enhanced. The first layer of injectable filler is not a thick layer. Then we get out the mirror and look. The patient can either say that is enough or they want more. Then a second layer is put along the vermilion-cutaneous border for a more significant enhancement. Then we look again. A new layer is only put in if the patient thinks they want more.
The vermilion-cutaneous border of the lips can only be enhanced so much without looking peculiar or like a ‘duck-bill’. If the patient still wants more volume, then I will put a layer of injectable filler into the body of the vermilion of the lip. Putting injectable filler there fills out the lip closer to the tooth level. With each new layer, the patient looks and tells me what they think. This way the lip only becomes what the patient wants and they have input as the injectable filling process goes forward.
This ‘Layer and Look’ method works well and I have yet to have a patient complain that they were overfilled or looked unnatural. In fact, in many cases of first time injectable filler patients, they usually come back the next time wanting more than the first, feeling that they were initially too conservative.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana