• Ideal Lip Augmentation Candidates
• Your Personal Consultation
• Lip Augmentation Procedure

Fuller, plumper lips can be achieved by a variety of lip augmentation techniques. Dr. Pearl will help you to select the lip augmentation method best for you. The technique chosen will depend on individual patient factors and your goals for the procedure. There are both natural and synthetic materials that can be injected or surgically placed into the lips to create volume. These substances come from a variety of sources, and each has its own particular benefits and disadvantages. Dr. Pearl can review the options with you.

You may be a good candidate for lip augmentation if you have any of the following conditions:

• Atrophic lips from aging
• The desire to have fuller lips with improved size and shape

A personal consultation is the first step. Dr. Pearl will assess your physical and emotional health and discuss your specific cosmetic goals for lip enhancement. A general physical assessment will be made. You should arrive at the consultation prepared to provide complete information about allergies and medications.

The simplest technique for lip augmentation is injection with your own fat (microstructural fat grafting) or with the latest hyaluronic acid fillers: Restylane®, Perlane®, Juvederm™ and Juvederm™ Ultra Plus. For fat injection, a small amount of fat is taken from another area of your body, using a small needle attached to a syringe. Sometimes patients who are undergoing lipoplasty will ask Dr. Pearl to use some of the suctioned fat to augment their lips. After processing to remove excess fluids, the fat is injected to create a fuller lip. Hyaluronic acid fillers like Juvederm™ and Restylane® can be injected directly into the lip to increase fullness and especially improve the border of the lip with the normal skin (vermillion cutaneous border).

The major disadvantage Restylane® and other injectable lip treatments is the necessity to repeat them. Even with fat injection to the lip, 2 to 3 sessions should be anticipated over a 12-18 month period to achieve the desired result. I estimate that approximately 1/3 of the processed fat placed in the lips will remain for greater than six months.

The search for an ideal permanent material for lip enhancement has been elusive. The use of gortex (Softform, Ultrasoft) has resulted in a high percentage of unnaturally firm lips, asymmetry and infection requiring removal. In general, I no longer recommend the use of gortex for lip enhancement. The most promising substances are Restylane®, Perlane®, Juvederm™, and Juvederm™ Ultra Plus. These are all forms of hyaluronic acid, a naturally occuring substance found in the body. New hyaluronic acid-based fillers result in nice improvement with minimal down time, and last approximately four to eight months. Although it is important to have a healthy skepticism for any new product, these new products show real promise and are currently available in the united States.

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