Let’s talk Lips

It's almost Valentine’s day, so naturally love is in the air. Love for another is beautiful and comforting, but don’t forget about self love! Showing ourselves some love and affection is just as important

In honor of V day, let’s talk lips!

The lips and mouth hold sensuality. The curves and fullness of a lip draws the eyes and contributes to attraction. However, with continued free radical exposure, age-related changes, and our friend/foe gravity, the lips are subject to unwanted changes. Below are some of these changes and how we can mitigate the effects.

Pigmentation – We’ve all heard the talk on the importance of sunscreen, but don’t forget about the lips! Lips are prone to sun damage, forming brown spots called solar lentigines. A lip balm with SPF is the answer to protecting that pout. My favorite – Elta MD UV Lip Balm.

Fine lines and wrinkles – In dermatology, we call these ‘smokers lines’ because they form with continued pouting of the mouth, like from sucking on a straw or puffing a cigarette. These lines form with time as collagen in the skin denatures, causing dynamic folds in the skin to turn into static folds. Procedures like microneedling or laser treatments are very good at smoothing out these unwanted lines. Injectible fillers made of hyaluronic acid, the building block of collagen, is my favorite way to make these lines instantly soften, in a sublte, natural looking way.

Volume loss –The lips are very susceptible to this. You may notice, your lips are more thin now than they used to be. The collagen and fat in our lips thins with time, leading to this volume loss. Lip liner and lipstick often starts to run as the sharp distinction between the vermillion border and cutaneous skin begins to diminish. Hyaluronic acid fillers are by far my favorite way to correct this! Soft, supple, natural looking volume can be restored in a twenty minute procedure.

I hope you all feel loved on this Valentine’s day <3

<3, Dr. Mian