Seattle Plastic Surgeon loves doing subtle and artful lip augmentation with Hyaluronic Acid fillers.
Are they real or plumped up with filler? It should be impossible to tell with a nice and artful lip augmentation.
I am always amazed at how much my practice has evolved after being in practice for over 20 years now.
Back in 1991 when I first hung my shingle, lip enhancement was done with collagen injections or with a procedure where a strip of skin above and below the lip vermilion border was excised and the lips expanded out. I wasn’t enthusiastic with either procedure. The collagen was often lumpy and the excision procedure left a scar and sometimes a funny shape.
Then along came fat transfer and I liked this much better in that it lasted, sometimes for years and years and years, and it looked and felt natural. But is was unpredictable in that some patients had resorption of the fat over time and needed repeat procedures. And the recovery from fat transfer is a couple of weeks looking like the love child of Mick Jagger and Angelina Joli.
Then along came lip implants, Softform Implants, that worked okay in some patients but in others distorted the lips with smiling or puckering.
Then along came HA (hyaluronic acid fillers) and oh happy day. These fillers make lip augmentation predictable, natural and easy on the patient because down time is in hours or days at most. The longevity of the fillers varies from filler to filler and from patient to patient but most patients get a good 3 – 6 months. And a relatively new filler, Volubella lasts a year or more.
I used to kind of cringe when I would see “lip enhancement” on my schedule. With the new HA fillers, I love seeing this on my schedule because I know the patient will likely be pleased and that always makes my day.
Thanks for reading! Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder
@lisalynnsowder
