Lip lift is a procedure Dr. Rezzadeh said “no” to it many times. “Because I’ve seen disasters,” he said—not just prominent scars, but shortened lips, crooked noses, and mouths that look weird when they move. Like Dr. Nayak, predicts a fall in the future: “If you just walk around Beverly Hills, you can tell that a lot of people under the age of 40 have had their lips lifted, and frankly, I think we’re going to be dealing with the consequences of that for years to come.”
Interestingly, Sean Alemi, MD, a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in New York City, says that what he experiences more often than “lip lifts go sideways” are patients who have been afraid of “scary” doctors, who insist that lip lifts will inevitably cause bad scars or a strange appearance. In contrast, on the West Coast, “there is a surprisingly low level of fear associated with lip lifts,” according to Dr. Rezzadeh. Another paradox: Although some surgeons say that the change in lip lift fashion has led to a rise in people asking for this procedure to get out of hand, without understanding its purpose, others find that many patients oppose lip lift—even if it would really benefit them—because they have seen such bad examples of it on the Internet or in the world.
So what is the truth about lip lifts? It’s complicated. Here are nine things surgeons want you to know about the powerful procedure.
1. A lip lift does more than just reduce the upper lip. If planned and performed correctly, for the right patient, it can have a rejuvenating and aesthetic effect.
Yes, a lip lift is a way to reduce the distance between the nose and the mouth—but for what purpose? Aside from simply lifting the upper lip, this procedure can “restore proper balance to the lower face,” which, for women, tends to become less flexible and more masculine-looking with age, says Dr. I don’t know. “By shortening the [nose-to-lip] sometimes just a few millimetres, a lip lift restores a soft femininity to the mouth.” (When men ask for a lip lift—which my sources say happens a lot—”I tell them straight up that it’s a feminine procedure,” notes Gary Linkov, MD, a double-board-certified facial plastic surgeon in New York City.) For many patients, Dr. But that little adjustment can pay off big, she says, “making the whole face look good.”
Lip lifting has no limits, however. First, “it’s really only lifting the center of the upper lip,” said Dr. Linkov. Patients often misunderstand this point, he says: “They think that lifting it will affect the entire lip, including the corners, and it doesn’t work that way.” (Look in the mirror and draw two lines going down from the bridge of your nose to your upper lip. The middle of those imaginary lines is what is being lifted.)
Surgeons can address the corners of the mouth by performing a different procedure called a corn lip lift. Depending on the technique used, a corner lift can open the outer edges of the upper lip (to reveal more red) or pick up drooping corners of the mouth. Dr. Rezzadeh finds that, in selected patients, changing the corners during a lip lift can lead to a more natural effect: In this way, “you speak with a full lip, so it doesn’t look like the middle part is enlarged, but the corners are not affected and still look grown,” he says. (In some cases, doing a basic lip lift without addressing the corners can create an overly arched look, where the line of the upper lip is like a metal curve.) Since the corner lip lift requires making holes in the vermillion border—where there is really no place to hide the scars—surgeons tend to give it less. In the office of Dr. Linkov, “the percentage of people who end up really benefiting [from a corner lip lift] maybe 5% to less than 10%.” In such cases, he prefers to wait and see how the upper lip lift stays with the scars before talking in corners.” Some surgeons may choose to perform these two procedures together.
2. Lip lift can be combined with other procedures or done on its own.
Surgeons often lift the lips during facelifts to improve harmony—about half of Dr. Facelift surgeons prefer to include a lip lift—but the procedure can also be done as a stand-alone under local anesthesia (meaning you’re sedated but awake). This can be a great option for people who already have a face lift, but for whatever reason, choose not to have a lip lift at the same time. A lip lift alone may also appeal to those who are not ready for major surgery. “I definitely see patients who are a little on the younger side, usually in their 40s, and they’re just starting to dip their toes in the beauty pool,” said Dr. I don’t know. “Most of them choose lip lifts as an entry point.”
