Written by: Mary Cunningham
Lips are the most sensual place on the face. Sure, bat your lashes all you want, but the lips can pout, entice, and excite… all at once.
The team over at New Beauty did a deep dive into what lip enhancement looks like at every age. Subtle enhancements with nonsurgical treatments can make a significant and positive change to one’s overall look.
If your lips have never been as alluring as you’d like (or aren’t what they once were), here are the best lip enhancement treatments to maintain that youthful pout at any age.
20s: What’s happening: Lip enhancements in your more youthful years seek to remedy natural asymmetry, too-thin lips or that look that can happen when the corners droop down. Thankfully fillers (like Juvederm and Restylane) can be used to address any of these issues.
30s: The body’s loss of collagen and elastin, and years of drying sun exposure contributes to wrinkles on and around the lips. Again, fillers here can be used to gently alleviate these concerns. Since youthful lips require fairly little enhancement to get them back on track, it’s key to work with a doctor who uses fillers judiciously. We’ve all seen bad examples where too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Do I really need to cite any celebrity examples here? I don’t think so.
While enhancements in our 20s and 30s are focused on correcting that which nature did not naturally bestow upon us, the focus of enhancements in our 40s, 50s, and beyond is to restore to our previously youthful appearance.
40s: With that in mind, in our 40s treatments are used to counteract even MORE drying and thinning. (Mother Nature, man – she just doesn’t stop.) Laugh lines have become more pronounced, etching grooves into the skin around the lips. And the lip shape itself, as well as areas around the lips, begins to change structurally. The corners of the mouth may become weaker, drawing the mouth — and likely the overall facial expression — down into a frown. Fillers will, well, fill in wrinkles to counteract the appearance of aging and bring fullness back to the other areas surrounding the lips as well.
50s: Overall changes to your entire visage may be morphing the lips even more. So much to look forward to, right? The lack of elasticity in the skin due to the loss of collagen and elastin and incremental drooping that starts mid-face can extend the space between the nose and lips meaning that, with time, the lips themselves have dropped a bit. {Shakes fist at Mother Nature and genetics}.
According to the New Beauty article, doctors can carefully and elegantly use a mix of fillers and neurotoxins to recreate the curve at top of the lip (AKA Cupid’s bow) and the vertical columns that run from the base of the nose to the top points of the lips, restoring the youthfulness of yore.
60s and Beyond: At this stage, an aesthetic professional will continue reconstructing key areas, including restoring the fullness of the lips and facial structures around the mouth. The same advice holds true in your 60s as your 20s: Trust your enhancements to a doctor who is on the same page as you in terms of your desired look. Remember too much filler alters your facial anatomy instead of enhancing you.
In your 50s, 60s and beyond, plastic surgeons can offer more than fillers and neurotoxins –they can offer fat grafting during simultaneous facial rejuvenation procedures. No matter what stage you find yourself in, find a trusted professional to consult with on the solution that suits your face, and your cosmetic goals. Board-certified plastic surgeons like Dr. Laura Randolph who are members of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery have the knowledge and years of experience performing these lip-enhancing/rejuvenation procedures.
Our bodies are in a constant state of change. That we can’t control. But whether we’re searching for the perfect lips we once had, or never had in the first place, nonsurgical solutions are as easy as the next visit to the office of a plastic surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS).
