The lips are fundamental to the beauty of the face and together with the eyes are the ones that receive the most attention from those with whom we interact.

The fascination that lips have gained over time is completely understandable. At the same time, it is fascinating to see the power of such a simple act as enhancing the lips with a lip colorant. A colorant that has served as a symbol for femininity, a colorant in the form of lipstick that played a leading role in World War II, a colorant that not only does not suffer during economic downturns but instead increases in sales.

We are not surprised, then, by the current trend of designing lips with filler.

First let's understand that a lipstick has the ability to enhance the lips but does not have the ability to alter their shape. Whereas fillers not only have the ability to enhance the lips but also have the ability to alter the shape of the lips. For better or worse, let's remember that with great power comes great responsibility.

Let's delve a little deeper into this responsibility. The first thing we must understand is the characteristics that make lips beautiful. If we don't understand this we can miss the mark. The lips are composed of an upper lip that comprises the skin below the base of the nose to the opening of the mouth. We usually call lips only the reddish colored portion corresponding to the mucous part of the lip, however, the part of skin between the red lip and the base of the nose is also part of the upper lip (skin lip). The main beauty characteristics are their length and the shape of each philtrum column.

Let's see in these images how the beauty of the lips is diminished by having a long distance of the skin lip, between the base of the nose and the red lip. Also, a lack of definition of the philtrum columns does not favor the aesthetics of the lips.

Let's see instead in the following images how a shorter distance from the base of the nose to the red lip and a better definition of the philtrum columns mskrd the lips beautiful.

Another aesthetic feature of the lips is the clear demarcation of what is called the "white roll". The white roll is located between the red lip and the skin lip. The skin lip runs from the base of the nose to the white roll just above the red lip. This white roll corresponds to this luminosity that lies just above the red lip and delimits it all the way around. As we can clearly see in the picture below.

Let's focus now on the lower lip. There should be a harmonious relationship between the red lips. The lower red lip is characterized by being wider or equal in width to the upper lip. A frequently made mistake is to design the upper red lip larger than the lower red lip. In the photograph below, we see a result by an unknown supplier. We see this common mistake of making the upper lip wider than the lower lip. Unfortunately the concepts of beauty is not something we have all been educated to.

In this other example, of a result done by an unknown supplier. We can see how they wanted to enhance the white roll culminating unfortunately in a non elegant result.

Now that we have a better understanding of the qualities that make lips beautiful, let's see how we can improve them to enhance our face.

When the upper lip is too long the treatment is the "lip lift". It consists of a minimally invasive surgery that can be performed under local anesthesia or if the patient prefers it can be performed under sedation. It is an outpatient procedure, meaning that at the end of the procedure the patient will not spend a night recovering in the clinic and will return home. Recovery is quick and the patient returns to daily life in approximately 1 week. Pain is low and the scar is generally inconspicuous. Risks are low, with the greatest concern being a distortion of the beauty of the lips. The duration of treatment in this case is approximately 10 years.

Another treatment available to enhance the lips is with  fillers. There have been and still are a great variety of fillers. The most recommended one is hyaluronic acid, which is a protein that is found natively in our skin. Sadly many unauthorized substances are still used in an effort to reduce costs at the expense of patients' health. It is a minimally invasive procedure with an immediate recovery that can be performed under topical anesthesia or local anesthesia. The pain after the procedure is almost none and there is no scarring. The most frequent complications as we have mentioned are the distortions caused in the lips. Another less frequent complication is migration of the product to other neighboring parts. Both complications are dependent on the technique and experience of the provider. The duration of treatment is approximately 6 months.

The price range starts at 450 USD and will be defined by the treatment plan suggested by your plastic, aesthetic and reconstructive surgeon. As we well know not all dresses fit all bodies. At Kintsugi we do not look for generic results: we think like artists, plan like architects and execute like engineers. Just like with a dress, the result of your treatment is what people will see when they meet you. It's an investment in you.

Feel good about looking better!