Pout Of Character? These Treatments Will Bring Your Lips Back To Life

The backlash against lip filler is real – but there’s more than one way to plump your lips, says Alice Hart-Davis. These are the lip treatments to have on your radar.

The Lip Treatments That Make A Perfect Pout

Much as we all want that little bit more for our lips, no one wants a weird trout pout – we’ve seen too many of them on high profile faces to ignore.

We’ve heard celebs talk of how much better they look since dissolving their (bad) lip filler and we’ve started worrying about ‘migration’, the term for when filler moves outside of the lips resulting in a bizarre ‘shelf’ or unnatural roll to the outer perimeter of the lip.

If you ask top practitioners, however, lip filler isn’t going anywhere – in the best hands, the work they do is beautiful and undetectable. Those vocalising their regret fail to mention that they can’t bear deflated lips and almost always have the filler redone, just more subtly and skilfully.

Well-placed filler won’t migrate, either – it’s over-filling, or bad technique that causes the product to shift. But still, the anxiety lingers. The good news, for anyone wary of filler, is that there are many other ways to freshen up your lips, to improve their colour and shape – and they look entirely natural.

The Hydration Jab

What else could you inject into older lips to smooth and soften them other than traditional hyaluronic acid filler? What about a product that’s runnier than lip filler, but which still contains some hydrating hyaluronic acid? ‘Restylane Skinboosters can be used to give the lip a hit of hydration and a tiny amount of volumisation given that it’s hyaluronic acid-based,’ says Dr Ash Soni. ‘Some patients have chronically dry and cracking lips, and in those patients a touch of Skinboosters can be just what they need to hydrate them beautifully, which really helps their symptoms, especially during the colder months.’

BOOK IT: Restylane Skinboosters costs from £300, thesoniclinic.com

Laser Your Lips? Here’s Why

We rarely notice the way our lips lose their colour, as well as their volume, as they age. It’s partly due to decreased blood circulation in the lips, and also to hydration. Can you bring back the rosy hue of younger lips? Absolutely, and that’s one reason dermatologist and laser expert Dr Ariel Haus uses laser in his clinic to improve lip quality and colour. ‘Lasers can rejuvenate and tighten the vermilion border, stimulating collagen and elastin production to improve texture and tone,’ says Dr Haus. He uses either the Fotona (a solid state laser) or the RedTouch (a diode laser) on the lips. ‘They can help to enhance definition, smooth fine lines, and restore a fuller appearance to the lips,’ he adds.

BOOK IT: From £490, drhausdermatology.com

Lasers can also be used to help reduce barcode lip lines – the ones we used to call ‘smoker’s lines’, though non-smokers get them too – around the upper lip. Dr Sebagh is a big fan of using CO2 laser to tackle these. ‘The results are amazing,’ he says. Caveat: CO2 laser is notoriously uncomfortable and has some downtime.

BOOK IT: From £2,000 to treat lines on the top lip area, drsebagh.com

Lip Rehab

Dr Sophie Shotter offers an extensive, personalised ‘lip rehab’ menu that starts with intensive hydration using injections of Volite (a very fluid form of hyaluronic acid) and can be backed up with a lip flip (toxin injected at the corners of the mouth and the edges (vermillion border) of the lips. Alternatively, or in addition, Dr Shotter incorporates injections of filler to lift drooping mouth corners, as required.

BOOK IT: From £450, illuminateskinclinic.co.uk

Dr Uliana Gout has conceived LAM Lip Gloss & Glam, which uses some of the world’s smallest needles to deliver powerful molecules from humectants, soft hyaluronic, antioxidants, peptides and amino acids in a personalised cocktail. It takes only 15 minutes and lasts for up to six months.

BOOK IT: From £500, london-aestheticmedicine.com

Pink Up Your Lips

The latest trend in semi-permanent make-up is lip blushing, which involves micro-deposits of pigment into the lips to give them a consistent colour that lasts. The mere thought of having your lips tattooed might make you want to run for the hills, but I’m told this is done with the tattoo gun on a low setting and with plenty of numbing cream. Aim for a natural, bitten-lip colour and pick an expert like Daxita Vaghela or Nez Hasan, who both do gorgeous work.

Flip Your Top Lip

One way to make your upper lip look that little bit larger without filler is to try a lip flip. Dr Christine Hall explains how this works. ‘For a lip flip, we put tiny doses of Botox into the top border of the lip. This relaxes the muscles there a little, so that the top lip ‘everts’ or rolls outwards and gives the illusion of a bigger lip – but it’s not adding any volume to the lip at all.’ The benefit, says Dr Hall, is that ‘it’s not permanent. It’s less complicated than filler and it’s cheaper.’ But be warned, there can be side effects. ‘It’s not for everyone. If you have very thin lips it won’t do much for you,’ she says, ‘and for some people, it can make sucking through a straw difficult.’ Results can last up to 12 weeks.

BOOK IT: From £295, drwassimtaktouk.com

The Non-Filler Trout Pout

Polynucleotides – yes, the very ones derived from trout or salmon DNA, popularly known as the ‘salmon-sperm’ injectable, can also be used in the lips to rejuvenate the skin. Dr Paris Acharya uses Plinest polynucleotides: ‘We can inject these directly into the body of the lip, as well as into the upper lip lines to kickstart the fibroblasts into producing more collagen and elastin, so it’s a preventative, regenerative treatment.’ If the patient’s lips are mature and drier, she might pick a brand called Newest instead, where the polynucleotides have the backup of hyaluronic acid. ‘If there has been volume decline, Newest is better as we have added hydration to help the lips to become smoother,’ she says.

BOOK IT: From £450 a treatment (you’ll need more than one), theardourclinic.co.uk

The Surgical Lip Lift

One of the less delightful aspects of ageing is the way the philtrum – the groove of skin between the nose and the upper lip – lengthens with age, so that when we open our mouths, our upper lip hangs down and covers the upper teeth. What can be done? Well, it takes surgery, namely a Lip Lift, where a sliver of skin is taken out from just below the nostrils in a ‘bullhorn’ technique – this shortens the philtrum to give a lifted, more youthful look. Consultant plastic surgeon Dr Georgina Williams does a neat job but advises that patients need to be ready for two weeks of swelling and bruising before stitches are removed, and for the scar to take up to six months to heal.

BOOK IT: £4,800, montroseclinics.com

Lip Masks

If the mere thought of injectables or indeed surgery is enough to make you reach for your comfort blanket, try Sarah Chapman’s Overnight Lip Concentrate, which contains bakuchiol to plump and smooth lips along with hydrating and collagen-boosting ingredients to lock in vital moisture. And don’t forget lip SPF, to protect that delicate skin during the day. Albus & Flora make fabulous ones that come in clear, or in a range of pretty tints.

Alice Hart-Davis is founder of thetweakmentsguide.com