In brief
- In lip treatment, the natural shape of the lips is enhanced with hyaluronic acid; volume, moisture and contour can be fine-tuned.
- The hyaluronic acid breaks down naturally after 8 to 12 months.
- If you are not happy with the result, the hyaluronic acid can be dissolved again with the enzyme hyaluronidase.
- The treatment should be carried out by an experienced doctor; swelling and bruising on the first day are not unusual.
Lip fillers without looking artificial?
Beautiful, full, curved lips are still a beauty ideal, especially longed for by people with thin lips. But the term "lip injections" fell into disrepute in the past, thanks to numerous celebrities with a penchant for visiting the beauty doctor and glossy photos of so-called "duck lips". Silicone lips are a trend from the 1990s and are no longer considered chic today. Full, large lips, on the other hand, do correspond to the beauty ideal of the Instagram generation. "Lip injections", if the internet is to be believed, are also no longer reserved for the rich and beautiful, although they are now called "getting your lips done".
Aesthetic medicine today
Thanks to the many innovations in aesthetic medicine, which today is about preserving one's own natural beauty or correcting individually perceived beauty flaws through slight corrections, lip correction with hyaluronic acid offers great possibilities to improve your appearance without changing it.
The importance of hyaluronic acid
Aesthetic medicine today provides ways and means to gently correct the natural traces of time, of life, of environmental influences and of skin problems that stop you from finding yourself beautiful. Hyaluronic acid, which is an important component of connective tissue, plays a major role here. Creams containing hyaluronic acid are considered highly effective, and hyaluronic acid fillers are on everyone's lips.
In the body, hyaluronic acid fulfils many functions and provides, for example, the moisture, firmness and elasticity of the skin. With increasing age, the skin's own hyaluronic acid content decreases, and moisture and firmness decline. One consequence, for example, is that the distance between the nose and the red of the lips lengthens over the years, as the lips lose moisture and with it volume. Anti-ageing treatments with hyaluronic acid fillers are therefore based on the principle of giving the body back what it loses over the years.
A refresh with hyaluronic acid is one of the many possibilities that open up in the field of treatments with hyaluronic acid fillers. In addition, skilled specialists can also use hyaluronic acid fillers to model the facial contour. Ideally, these two elements should come together in a lip treatment with a natural result, in which the shape of your own lips is enhanced and aesthetically emphasised according to the patient's wishes.
Lip treatment with hyaluronic acid: what you should know
A lip treatment with hyaluronic acid also poses a lower risk than a silicone implant, because the change has an expiry date. After 8–12 months, the injected hyaluronic acid has dissipated naturally. If you were happy with the treatment result, you book a top-up appointment. If you do not like your new lips, you have the opportunity relatively soon – namely two weeks after the unsuccessful treatment – to have the injected hyaluronic acid dissolved again. The enzyme hyaluronidase is used for this, effectively the antidote to hyaluronic acid.
What changes can I expect from "lip injections"?
The starting point of any reputable treatment is the natural shape of the lips, which is aesthetically emphasised with carefully placed injections. Volume, moisture and contour can be fine-tuned to balance the lips, emphasise them or give them back their lost freshness. The ratio of lower to upper lip plays just as important a role as the symmetry of the contour. In any case, it is important in the consultation, which should take place before every aesthetic treatment, to express your own wishes clearly and to agree with the treating doctor what is possible and what a joint approach can look like. Significantly enlarged lips can, for example, be built up slowly over several sessions.
What risks are associated with the treatment?
As with many aesthetic treatments, the risks and side effects are minor and rare, but every intervention in the body carries a greater or lesser risk of side effects and complications. Undesirable reactions are triggered either by the treatment itself or by the hyaluronic acid product. It is therefore advisable to have the treatment carried out by an experienced doctor who has the necessary anatomical knowledge, is practised in the use of hyaluronic acid, and can assess and resolve possible risks and complications. Improper treatment is dangerous in any case. Hyaluronic acid should only be administered by trained doctors.
Before the hyaluronic acid is injected, an anaesthetic cream is usually applied to reduce pain, and the hyaluronic acid product itself also contains an anaesthetic, and not without reason. Especially on the lips, pain when the needle is inserted is a frequently occurring side effect. "No pain, no gain" also applies on day 1 after the treatment, as it is not unusual for bruises to form, although these disappear again after a few days. The swelling is strongest on the first day after the treatment and subsides over the following days. Itching and a feeling of tension – all of this is part of it; it is less pleasant, however, if you are dissatisfied with the treatment result or the hyaluronic acid forms lumps. But as already mentioned: the advantage of hyaluronic acid is that there is an antidote.
However, anyone who is lucky enough to have their lips done by a really good specialist will make an effort to secure an appointment there once a year – with a radiant smile.
You can find more information about lip fillers at Dermacare here.
Call us on +43 1 532 03 34, email us at info@dermacare.at or use our contact form to arrange a consultation or treatment appointment for full lips or lip correction!
Frequently asked questions
Hyaluronic acid is an endogenous substance. Chemically speaking, hyaluronic acid is a chain of sugar molecules with the property of binding water. In anti-aging, hyaluronic acid is used against wrinkles because it can bind about 6000 times more water than its own weight, so 1 gram of hyaluronic acid can bind 6 litres of water. In the human body, most hyaluronic acid is stored in the skin, where it holds the cells together. It is also found in joints and in the eyes.
From the age of 25 onwards, the body’s own production of hyaluronic acid decreases. At the age of 60, only 10% of the initial hyaluronic acid level can be detected in the body.
The treatment with hyaluronic acid fillers aims at the cushioning effect that the preparation produces when used correctly. In addition, hyaluronic acid binds water and hydrates the tissue; the refreshed moisture balance leaves the skin and lips looking plump and fresh.
