In the old days, back in 2015, Kylie Jenner’s lips sparked an online social media challenge.
Teens, in particular, encased their mouths in shot glasses and breathed in, causing their lips to plump. It also caused pain, scarring and bruising around the mouth. Ouch! All that, just to look like Kylie? As Australia’s leading resource for news and information about cosmetic enhancement, Costhetics wants you to know there is a better way.
So put down your shot glass, pick up your wine glass, coffee mug or sippy cup, and keep reading.
What is a Thread Lift for Lips?
Doctors use surgical threads to stitch (suture) wounds. Traditionally, these threads were removed by hand after the healing process but innovative new threads don’t need to be removed. They dissolve or are absorbed by the body. Lip lifts make use of sugar-derived polymer threads that dissolve naturally.
Threads come in various compositions and in different designs, too, to help doctors accomplish different goals:
- Spiral shape threads – best for defining the borders of the lip.
- Fine, wispy threads – best for correcting fine lines around the mouth (otherwise known as smoker’s lines).
A lip thread lift procedure begins with the application of a numbing cream to ease any discomfort. Lidocaine is used to numb the area around the lips being treated. After 10 minutes or so, the nips are numb and the procedure can begin. Threads, similar in size and appearance to dental floss, are inserted under the skin with the use of a cannula, a medical tube. The threads are then pulled upward gently, much as they are in facelift surgery.
Depending on the type of thread, the effects can last anywhere from six to 12 months. This is in comparison to the six-month duration of fillers.
5 Reasons to Have a Thread Lift for Lips
As their name suggests, thread lifts for lips are primarily meant to raise the drooping skin around the mouth that can make your entire face look old. They are an excellent way to:
- Tighten delicate skin around the lips
- Soften smiles lines
- Soften wrinkles
- Erase nasolabial folds (marionette lines)
- Trigger collagen production and a little bit of plumping
Thread lifts also trigger collagen production and causes a small, temporary change in lip volume. For maximum plumping, however, the clear choice is a series of dermal filler injections.
What are Dermal Fillers for Lips?
“It’s 2019 and getting your lips injected is about as common as getting your hair highlighted,” says Cosmopolitan Magazine. As demand for shapely lips has grown so are the options available to consumers. Different formulations provide results that range from temporary to permanent.
Lip augmentation with dermal fillers can be performed with:
- Human-derived collagen fillers
- Bovine-derived collagen fillers
- Hyaluronic acid-based fillers
- Autologous fat transfer
Temporary, hyaluronic acid injections take the worry out of cosmetic enhancement. If a patient is unhappy with his/her results, the injector can administer an eraser enzyme called hyaluronidase, which will dissolve the filler in a few minutes.
What Happens During Lip Augmentation?
Overall, the treatment is quick and easy. A numbing cream can be applied to minimise discomfort and some hyaluronic acid fillers even contain lidocaine, another numbing agent. When the topical anaesthetic has done its job, your injector marks the areas to be injected and using tiny, fine needles to carefully place the filler in your lips. After the treatment, an ice pack may be used to control swelling, and most patients go back to their day’s activity with no down time.
6 Ways Lip Fillers Make Mouths Kissable
Lip plumping, also known as lip augmentation, is a treatment to reshape lips that have lost their contours over time. The treatment can:
- Add volume to thin lips
- Replace lost volume to ageing lips
- Smooth vertical lips lines
- Improve lip symmetry
- Re-contour thin lips
- Reshape flat lips
To make sure you’re in good hands, Costhetics recommends you choose an injector who works in an office with a doctor. Injecting is an art and a science, and you want someone who has mastered both to be holding the needle.
Why Choose? Do Both!
Thread lifts for lips help re-define the mouth area and build collagen naturally. Lip fillers help hydrate and plump. Many people choose both…and you don’t have to stop there. It is not unusual for individuals who are having a lip thread lift or lip filler injections to work with their providers to create a personalised total rejuvenation package. This can include microneedling, laser treatments, or intense pulsed light therapies.
If you’d like to change your smile, Costhetics says go for it. Don’t let anyone give you any lip about your decision. You are the boss of you.
Stay beautiful!