Lip lift

The incision sits in the natural crease at the base of the nose, where it usually heals as a fine line hidden in shadow and fades over months. Scarring is still the single most frequently reported complaint among dissatisfied patients, and hypertrophic scars do occur. Skin type, smoking status and closure tension all affect how it settles.

Yes. Skin is excised, so the change is structural rather than temporary, and published series document stability from 12 to roughly 59 months of follow-up. Ageing continues regardless — the lip can lengthen and the vermilion thin again over time.

Filler adds volume to the lip you have; it does not shorten the distance between nose and lip. A lip lift changes that proportion, everting the vermilion and increasing tooth show, which filler cannot do. People with a long philtrum who keep adding filler tend to end up with a heavy, projecting lip rather than a lifted one.

Across pooled published series, upper-incisor show at rest increased from about 1.5–2.0 mm before surgery to about 3.5–5.0 mm afterwards. How much depends on the amount of skin excised and the technique used. Excessive incisor show is a recognised overcorrection risk.

Swelling peaks around days 3–5 and sutures come out at 5–7 days, with most people back to non-strenuous work within the first week. Bruising and swelling largely clear within a month, and surgical healing is complete at around 6–12 weeks. Final lip position and scar appearance are judged at roughly 4–6 months.

Yes — the two share the subnasal surgical field and are frequently staged together if its a closed rhinoplasty

Local anaesthesia, with or without light sedation, and about an hour. General anaesthesia is normally used only when the lip lift is combined with something larger, such as rhinoplasty or a facelift. You go home the same day.

Smokers and nicotine users, until they have stopped — the incision sits exactly where impaired healing shows. It is also the wrong operation if your complaint is volume rather than length: with a short philtrum and generous tooth show already, shortening the lip further only pushes incisor and gum show past what most people want. A history of hypertrophic or keloid scarring, conditions or medications that impair wound healing, and an active cold sore or perioral infection all argue for delay or a different plan. If jaw surgery is being considered, that comes first, because it moves the lip. And anyone who cannot accept a permanent scar under the nose should not have this done.

No — it usually makes one more obvious. A lip lift shortens the upper lip, so it increases both tooth and gum show; if you already show gum when you smile, that is the direction it moves. Excessive gum show is generally a matter of vertical maxillary excess or overactive lip elevator muscles, and is treated with botulinum toxin, lip repositioning surgery or orthognathic surgery instead. This is why assessment looks at gum show on a full smile, not only incisor show at rest.

Contact the clinic — do not wait for your next appointment — for spreading redness or warmth around the incision, pain that increases rather than settles after day 3, fever, or cloudy or foul-smelling discharge. The same goes for sudden one-sided swelling or a firm tense collection under the lip, wound edges that separate or gape, and a suture line that turns pale, dusky or dark. Because this is usually done as a trip, add the travel-related ones: calf pain or swelling, breathlessness or chest pain need emergency assessment wherever you are.

Yes, though published cohorts are about 92% female with a mean age near 37. Male philtral height is normally longer than female, so the target is a shorter lift — over-shortening feminises the lower third of the face rather than correcting it. The incision also crosses hair-bearing skin, which means the scar is planned around the moustache pattern and can end up better camouflaged than in women, at the cost of a strip of skin that grows hair differently after closure.