Have you ever asked yourself what does a beautiful pair of lips should look like?
We are bombarded on social media about the central importance of beautiful lips is in facial aesthetics. However there are so many versions of lips that are portrayed as beautiful that defining which are truly beautiful can be difficult.
The beautiful ideal may not exist. Despite all the millions spent of marketing lipstick and lip fillers, a single beautiful ideal does not exist. That is because beauty of the lips is defined as the the proportion, balance and harmony of the lips that is perceived positively. This means that beauty is often to personal and public perception but it is also proportional to local and regional features of the face and teeth.
To achieve “real’ beauty of the lips you need to step back from the external biological canvas of the mouth and take in the view of the entire smile landscape. The detail of the lips needs to harmonise with the pink-white dental mosaic ( pink gingiva and white anterior dentition) while creating a central lower facial focus, proportional to complimentary facial architecture.
In a less abstract explanation, beautiful lips requires an understanding of the relationship of the lips with the underlying teeth and gums together with facial proportions.
Historically we have discussed this in terms of the golden ratio (1:1.68). All facial components ( lips, nose, cheeks, forehead) could be considered to fit within this ratio. For example the upper lip height ratio was 1 to the lower lip height of 1.68. This is a challenging concept to appreciate let alone be able to deliver it clinically. But there is immense advantages of keeping facial proportions within this ratio if you are looking for “natural” beauty.
Therefore lip treatment is not simply the placement of filler in the the lips. It requires the consideration of dose and character of product and location of injection to achieve a given result.
With age the ratios of the lips change regardless of whether lip filler is present. The upper lip lengthens relative to the lower lip. This leads the upper lip hanging lower over the upper incisors and masking them. This detracts from the beauty of a youthful smile when 2-4mm of central incisor is on show at rest (in females, 0-2mm for men) and 100% of the tooth is visible on an emotive smile. Fillers in the lip, which attract water may further compromise this.
At the periphery of the lips ( corner of the lips), descent of the lips can lead to the feature of a lip frown ( negative emotion) at rest. This is not desirable.
Lip rejuvenation surgery addresses these features by restoring the lip to more improved proportions. The selective removal of skin just beneath the nose or corner of the mouth can restore the youthful looking lip and correct the “perma-frown”.
The surgery is often performed in combination with bio-regenerative hyaluronic acid treatment to optimise the overlying skin quality.
Contact Mr John Blythe for more info.