When I mention lips, my friends think ‘Kylie Jenner’. True, Forbes’s youngest billionaire did transform her lips, and her fortunes with the help of a syringe, but lip fillers have gone a long way since its pucker plumping days.
In the past, hyaluronic acid fillers meant for the face were also used interchangeably for the lips, and not always with good results. That’s when Restylane Kysse hit the market with a hyaluronic acid filler that is meant just for the lips.
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“Restylane Kysse gives my patients the sort of subtle yet natural volume without looking articificial” says Dr Low Chai Ling, founder of SW1 Clinic. “Best of all, it mimics natural lip tissue and it just makes your lips feel soft and supple”.
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In case, you think the idea of lip augmentation is not for you, let me help you change your mind with some statistics. While not all of us will embrace a syringe of lip filler while we are in our teens, the truth is that our lip volume reduces with age. This has two significant effects on our lips— thinning out the lips, and making it lose its vermillion border. This explains why lips look ore shriveled and lipstick bleed lines are more common as you age. Less obvious but also a huge contributory factor to old-looking lips is the fact that our lips begin to invert or turn inwards with age. It’s the eversion that is associated with a Brigitte Bardot pout, that is lost with the passage of time.
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But all is not lost. With aesthetic advancements, these changes can be easily reversed with the right filler and immaculate skill of a good aesthetic physician. “A good eye is absolutely necessary when it comes to lip fillers” explains Dr Low. “For instance, some lips only need very targeted augmentation around the vermillion border and the center of the lip to enhance the shape”. Doctors are no longer filling lips indiscriminately along the entire length of the lips. Overdone lips are apparently a thing of the past, and with new filler techniques, sausage lips are but a distant memory for most.
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Why there are several methods to augment lips, with doctors and surgeons using implants, fat and hyaluronic acid fillers over the years, the latter appears to be the treatment of choice as it helps to hydrate the lips at the same time. Years of research on hyaluronic acid fillers such as Restylane Kysse also means it has less side effects and has a high safety record. Most importantly, for those dipping their toes in the aesthetic world, hyaluronic acid fillers are temporary and will naturally break down over time, about 4-6 months. Should you want to reverse the process for any reason, a simple injection of hyalase will ‘melt’ the fillers instantly restoring your lips to its former glory.
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This huge safety margin is one of the many reasons why women like me are tempted to give lip fillers a shot. Like my colleague and good friend Jeanine says “It’s probably less of a decision than permanent highlights”.
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