Which Facial Filler Works Best for Lips?
Sometimes, nature doesn’t bless you with the facial features that society views as most attractive. While you could try to make peace with what you don’t have, you have options, like taking advantage of the services medical spas like ours offer.
One of the things that we offer is facial fillers. Injections of these FDA-approved dermal fillers can make your lips (as well as your entire face) look more plump and youthful. Our providers at eleven19 MedSpa explain more about fillers and what they can do for you.
What are facial fillers?
Sometimes also called dermal fillers, these compounds are based on substances your body already produces naturally. Because your body recognizes them, it doesn’t react to them as though they’re foreign substances.
Most dermal fillers are based on some form of hyaluronic acid or collagen. Hyaluronic acid is used more often now, although we also have some fillers designed to boost your body’s natural production of collagen.
How fillers can help your lips
You might be envisioning dramatic and sometimes too obvious results, creating an appearance of “duck lips.” If that’s something you want, you have to ask, because we can control how much of the filler to inject into your lips.
But you may not be aware of some of the other benefits of lip fillers. They include:
- Restoring volume lost due to the normal aging process
- Correcting asymmetry between the size of your lower and upper lips
- Correcting asymmetry on each lip, making them even
- Smoothing out some of the wrinkles around your mouth
There are many different reasons for choosing to use a dermal filler to boost your lips.
The different types of fillers
The dermal fillers we use are based on hyaluronic acid or are designed to stimulate your body’s own ability to produce collagen. The one we use most often for lips is Juvederm® Volbella™ XC.
Juvederm is widely used as a facial filler, especially to smooth wrinkles and restore a more youthful and plump appearance to your skin.
There’s a specific form of Juvederm called Volbella XC, which we inject into your lips. It plumps up your lips and restores them to the appearance you may have had when you were younger (if you were ever lucky enough to have full, voluminous lips).
When you get a Juvederm Volbella XC injection, rest assured that we ensure it’s safe for you. Before recommending any treatment, we first take a health history. You do have to be in generally good overall health and cannot have active canker sores.
We may numb your lips with one of a variety of numbing agents. But reports from people who have had the procedure don’t rate it as being particularly painful. The average rating of the pain of the procedure is a 3 on a 0-10 scale, with 10 being the most painful.
If you’ve chosen to have your lips numbed, we make sure they are numb before administering the injections. We inject the substance into your lips using a very thin needle.
Most people can expect the results to last for about a year. You can return to have the procedure repeated if you want to maintain your results.
What to expect after the procedure
You should notice the plumping effects nearly immediately after the procedure. But you may also experience some temporary side effects, such as bruising around your mouth, as well as some redness and swelling. These effects usually don’t last for very long.
You should also plan to avoid strenuous exercise for about 24 hours. As with everything else, we recommend that you limit direct sun exposure and apply a lip balm with sunscreen.
If you’re interested in getting lip injections, schedule a consultation today. Contact the providers at eleven19 MedSpa or make an appointment at the location most convenient for you — in Santa Ana, Rancho Cucamonga, or Fullerton, California.