Lip filler alters volume, shape, definition, proportion and symmetry using hyaluronic acid gel. It can restore lost fullness, balance an upper and lower lip, define a border or support a downturned corner. It cannot shorten a long upper lip or improve the skin around the mouth.
| Classification | Medical device, injected |
|---|---|
| Product | A soft, flexible gel suited to constant movement |
| First treatment | Conservative, then reviewed and built on if wanted |
| Swelling | Substantial for 24 to 48 hours. Greater here than anywhere on the face |
| Settled result | Two weeks |
| Duration | Commonly six to twelve months |
| Reversal | Hyaluronidase, a prescription-only medicine |
A lip that looks right is not simply a bigger lip. It is a lip in proportion to the face around it and internally balanced between its own parts: the upper lip and lower lip in relation to each other, the height of the skin between the nose and the vermilion border, the definition of the border itself, the shape of the cupid's bow, the corners, and the projection when seen from the side.
Classical proportion suggests a lower lip somewhat fuller than the upper, though this varies with the face and with what you actually want. What matters is that somebody is designing rather than distributing.
Some things are not available whatever the practitioner does. A long upper lip that has rolled inward with age cannot be shortened by adding gel; adding volume pushes it forward and produces the projecting shelf that reads instantly as work. A very thin vermilion with no structure beneath cannot become a full lip in one appointment without distortion.
Recognising the ceiling is the difference between a lip that looks like a good version of yours and a lip that looks like a decision somebody made. A practitioner who tells you what is not achievable is worth considerably more than one who agrees to everything.
You can add more in a fortnight. You cannot un-see a mouth that is wrong for your face at a wedding on Saturday.
Lips swell more than any other area treated with filler, and the first two days routinely produce something that looks nothing like the intended result. Most people who panic on day two are looking at swelling.
Do not book lip treatment in the week before an event. Three to four weeks is a sensible minimum for a first treatment, which leaves room for a review.
Migration describes product that has moved beyond the vermilion border into the skin above the lip. It shows as a soft shelf above the border, a loss of definition, or a distinct line where the filler edge sits. It is one of the commonest reasons people seek dissolving.
It is associated with placing product too superficially or too close to the border, repeated treatment before previous product has broken down, volumes the tissue cannot accommodate, and pressure or massage on the area. It is more visible in a short upper lip.
If you have had several rounds over a few years and the border is blurring, the correct next step is usually assessment for dissolving rather than another syringe. Adding to a migrated lip compounds the problem. A practitioner willing to suggest dissolving is giving you the answer that improves the result rather than the one that fills the appointment.
There is no legal requirement in the UK for clinical training in order to inject lips. One-day courses are advertised openly. That is the market you are shopping in, and the practitioner is therefore the product.
Read the clinic guide before your first appointment.
Commonly six to twelve months. Lips move constantly, so product breaks down faster here than in static areas.
That is a decision about volume and placement rather than an inevitable outcome. A conservative first treatment reviewed at two weeks is the reliable route to a natural result.
Significant for one to two days and not representative of the result. Judge at two weeks.
Yes, if it is hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronidase is used and the lip is usually left to settle for a fortnight before any new treatment.
Lips are sensitive. Topical anaesthetic is standard and most products contain lidocaine. Most people describe it as uncomfortable rather than painful.
Product that has moved above the vermilion border into the skin, blurring definition and creating a shelf. Usually managed by dissolving rather than by adding more.
Usually, but tell the practitioner beforehand so antiviral prophylaxis can be started.
Treatment
A medical device, not a medicine. That single fact explains most of what is wrong with the market.
Read
Treatment
A prescription-only medicine. The difficult part is not the injection, it is the dose.
Read
After treatment
Keep the area clean and undisturbed, stay upright for a few hours, avoid heat and strenuous exercise for aroun...
ReadThis website sells nothing and books nothing. It exists so that you walk into a consultation already knowing which questions separate a careful practitioner from a confident one, and already knowing when the correct answer is to leave without treatment.
hello@aestheticlaunchlab.comEnquiries are read and answered by Aesthetic Launch Lab, the UK aesthetics digital specialist that operates this website. Please do not send clinical details or photographs. If something has gone wrong after a procedure, contact the practitioner who treated you, or NHS 111, rather than waiting for a reply here.