Lip Injections
Address the Look of Thin Lips in Tucson and Oro Valley, AZ
A beautiful smile is often attributed to lips that appear full and soft. Some people are born with the genes that provide them with the perfect pout, while others have thinner lips. Even voluminous lips, however, can lose their size and shape over time due to natural aging processes. For anyone who wants their lips to be larger and more pronounced, there are lip injections at Tucson and Oro Valley’s Ironwood Dermatology.
Many people choose to use lipstick and lip liner to highlight or "overdraw" their smile, applying the makeup every day—and sometimes multiple times a day! Lip injections can help create the look you desire, without the need for overlining as an enhancement, while patients often say they enjoy the "broader canvas" they can use for showing off a range of lip colors and shades.
Why Choose Lip Injections?
As noted above, lips may be naturally thin, or they may diminish over time. In the latter case, thinning is due to a gradual loss of collagen and hyaluronic acid. Collagen is a protein responsible for giving lips their flexible structure and volume. Hyaluronic acid is a carbohydrate that sits in a collagen framework and has a particular attraction to water molecules. By readily binding with H2O, hyaluronic acid packs the area with crucial moisture.
Unfortunately, neither collagen nor hyaluronic acid molecules are constant fixtures in the lips or elsewhere in the skin. Both molecules break down over time. This is not a problem in a person's youth, since more of the molecules are made on a regular basis, replenishing their numbers and maintaining a hydrated, healthy look.
The cycle begins to slow after a couple decades of life, however. Some volume loss may be noticed as collagen levels go down, while dwindling hyaluronic acid leads to a drying out of formerly moist and pliant tissues. The result is visible thinning and wrinkling. The problem can only get worse with environmental damage and as time goes by, until collagen and hyaluronic acid are destroyed faster than created.
Am I an Ideal Candidate for Lip Injections in Tucson?
Many people are good candidates for lip injections. If you’ve noticed that your lips have lost some of their fullness over time or if you have never had plump lips and want to add some extra volume that you can’t get from makeup alone, lip injections might be something to consider.
Both men and women are considered to be ideal candidates for lip injections—and any dermal filler injections—as long as they are physically healthy, are non-smokers, maintain a positive outlook and realistic goals about what they can achieve with lip injections, and are dedicated to maintaining healthy skin.
How Can You Prepare for Lip Injections?
Not much preparation is needed before lip injections, but there are a few things to do in order to make the experience and results as good as possible.
The first step in getting ready for lip injections is setting up a consultation to discuss and clarify any cosmetic goals. Injectors at Ironwood Dermatology can determine how full or wide they will be able to make the lips while maintaining a look that’s as natural and subtle on the patient’s face as possible. It’s important to ensure that your injector has a clear understanding of the look you want—and that you understand what the lip injections can and can’t do for your face.
Next is the time to think carefully about how big you want your lips to be. Remember that it's often better to start off “slow,” with modest increases upping the volume instead of maxing out an “overfilled” look.
For the week prior to their lip injections, patients should avoid taking blood thinners and anti-inflammatories, since these can increase the risk of bruising. Avoid taking certain medications such as aspirin, Aleve, and ibuprofen, as well as supplements including St. John's Wort, gingko biloba, primrose oil, garlic, ginseng, and vitamin E—but only if it is determined to be medically safe for you to do so. Avoiding significant bruising after lip injections is a definite benefit, but your long-term health should always come first.
How Do Lip Injections Work?
Since volume is key to noticeably full lips, lip injections work by adding volume where needed. At Ironwood Dermatology, injectors use VOLBELLA ® XC and JUVEDERM® XC—dermal fillers in the JUVEDERM® line—to introduce this vital volume.
Each filler has a hyaluronic acid base and comes in the form of a soft, smooth gel. In the case of lip injections, a little goes a long way. The gel adds volume to serve as a "replacement" for the lost volume and structure the lips once had.
Effects of lip injections are temporary, but long lasting, with many patients enjoying their results for six months or up to a year. This volume naturally breaks down again over time, at which point a new round of lip injections can be scheduled to maintain their appearance.
Each session takes a matter of minutes, and expected side effects are typically mild and brief. One of the major advantages of lip injections is that they can be added in a gradual pace over multiple sessions.
Side Effects and Recovery After Lip Injections in Tucson
Lip injection side effects often take the form of slight redness, tenderness, bleeding from injection sites, and some bruising and swelling. New volume is apparent right away, and patients should feel free to return to their regular daily schedule as soon as they are comfortable after their lip injection appointment is over. The post-injection swelling may cause the lips to appear slightly larger than expected—causing some patients to think that they made a mistake and have excessively large lips—but this will resolve over the course of the next several days to reveal a look that is both full and natural.
Lip injections are rated highly in terms of safety and satisfaction. Since the hyaluronic acid in the gels is similar to the hyaluronic acid that occurs naturally in the body, lip injections are usually well-tolerated and allergic reactions are rare. They are generally a low-risk treatment, so more serious side effects are very uncommon. Watch for more severe post-lip injection swelling or bruising that lasts for seven days to 10 days, lip asymmetry, lumps and irregularities on the lips, infections, and allergic reactions that cause redness, swelling, or itching around the lips—and contact your injector if any of these occur. Hyaluronic acid-based fillers can be broken down as needed or desired with a simple injection, but this is an extremely rare possibility.
Options Aside from Lip Injections
Lip injections focus on a very specific aspect of the face, but other types of Juvederm®— including Voluma ® can be used for overall facial enhancement. Fillers can be combined to create a more youthful, smooth, and balanced appearance. Cheek fillers can add more structure and definition to the cheekbone area or lift and add fullness to cheeks that have flattened because of a loss of collagen and facial fat. Other forms of Juvederm® add volume to depressions and static wrinkles around the cheeks, nose, and mouth, such as nasolabial folds.
Unlike lip injections and other facial fillers that physically add volume below the skin, BOTOX® injections are designed to address the dynamic wrinkles—such as crow's feet and frown lines—that result from the skin being stretched and pulled into lasting wrinkles during repetitive facial expressions. Known as a neuromodulator, this treatment intercepts messages between the nerves and facial muscles to keep the muscles relaxed and the skin on the surface looking smoother.
Many of these treatments can be combined, so that a patient gets fuller lips, more rounded cheeks, and a smoother forehead all at the same time. The goal is to provide natural-looking and balanced rejuvenation.