Lip Augmentation Surgery
Introduction
Lip Augmentation is a cosmetic procedure for modifying the appearance of lips to be more full, refined and symmetrical with the other facial features. Due to age, genetics, or personal values, individuals often undergo lip augmentation to gain a restored and enhanced appearance. The technique may use a variety of techniques, such as the local injection of dermal fillers, implants, or fat transplantation, to volumize the lips and achieve a more youthful look.
In this paper, we will go over all the information you may need to know about lip augmentation surgery, including the procedure, advantages, potential complications, cost in India, recovery and the best hospitals providing this treatment.
What is Lip Augmentation Surgery?
Lip Augmentation is a cosmetic procedure to enlarge and remodel the lips. It is best in patients who request swollen, more defined lips. There are many choices of how to address lip augmentation requirements, one of the most requested is the use of injectable dermal fillers to achieve an aesthetic result with minimal downtime.
The clinician can use the procedure for the upper lip and/or lower lip according to the patient’s need. Furthermore, to aesthetic modifications, lip augmentation can also restore symmetry and fill in the fine lines that form around the mouth as well as replace the volume lost with aging.
Why is Lip Augmentation Surgery Performed?
The primary reasons people choose lip augmentation include:
- Cosmetic enhancement: For maximal, more shapely lips that support the appearance of the face.
- Age-related volume loss: As people grow older, the vermilion lips can become concave and thinner, resulting in an aging phenotype. Lip augmentation helps restore youthful fullness.
- Correcting asymmetry: There are people born with an asymmetrical or uneven papillomatous resulting in lip augmentation to restore symmetry for more natural lip contours.
- Restoring shape after injury: Trauma or damage to the lips can be repaired by lip augmentation, thereby restoring the lip’s appearance.
Types of Lip Augmentation Surgery
The following approaches can be employed for lip augmentation, with the most popular being:
- Injectable Fillers: This is the most frequently selected and least invasive approach to lip augmentation. Injectors use hyaluronic acid-based fillers (Juvederm/Restylane) to inject into the lips to produce immediate volume and shape. Patients frequently retain results for 6-12 months, depending on the type of filler they use as a determinant of lasting effect.
- Fat Transfer (Lipofilling): This method consists of lipoaspiration of fat from a different area of the body (predominantly from the abdomen and the thigh) and its intradermal injection in the lips. This technique provides a true, long-term effect, which can persist even up to multiple follow-up sessions required to reach the desired degree of fullness.
- Lip Implants: For patients who seek permanent lip augmentation, devices filled with silicone or another biocompatible material can be implanted into the lips by surgical procedure. This approach results in chronic effects but involves a minimally invasive procedure.
- Lip Lift: Surgeons accomplish lip lift by surgically excising a small strip of skin from the upper lip to extend the distance between the upper lip and the nostril, thereby enhancing the symmetry of the lips and giving them a fuller look.
Procedure Steps
Dose and total radiation will differ based on the treatment modality used:
- Injectable Fillers Procedure:
- Consultation: The clinician will assess the patient’s lips, establish patient expectations, and select the appropriate filler.
- Preparation: A healthcare provider will apply local numbing cream or local anesthesia to the lips to minimize injection pain.
- Injection: The chosen filler will be injected into the areas with the desired shape and volume of the lips.
- Completion: The procedure typically takes about 15–30 minutes. Downtime is minimal and patients can be back on their normal activities right after.
2. Fat Transfer (Lipofilling) Procedure:
- Consultation: The surgeon thinks about the donor bed (usually the abdomen or thighs) and the per-loop
- Harvesting Fat: Fat is removed using liposuction techniques.
- Purification: Lip injections require first the purification of the fat.
- Injection: The purified fat is carefully injected into the lips.
- Completion: The procedure can take 1-2 hours. Fat transfer offers more permanent results compared to fillers.
3. Lip Implant Procedure:
- Consultation: During the operation, the surgeon will assess the lip and determine the implant size and contour with the aim of achieving the best prognosis.
- Incision: The surgeon makes small incisions into the lip for implant insertion.
- Placement: The surgeon positions the implant inside the lip.
- Completion: This method usually requires 1-2 hours and generalized anesthesia.
4. Lip Lift Procedure:
- Consultation: The surgeon will explain the desired outcome and will counsel the procedure for the lip lift.
- Incision: A surgeon makes a snip incision at the base of the nose and excises a crêpé thin upward amount of skin.
- Lift and Closure: The surgeon displaces the lip cut and closes the wound with sutures of the upper lip helix.
- Completion: The team carries out this technique within 1 hour, and they may require generalized anesthesia.
Benefits of Lip Augmentation Surgery
Fuller, More Youthful Lips: A very important advantage is the permanent and immediate increase in lip volume.
- Improved Facial Balance: Lip augmentation can be applied for the symmetry of facial features, especially when lips are extremely thin or asymmetric.
- Non-Invasive Options: There are many lip augmentation procedures, such as dermal fillers, which are predominantly procedural and have relatively little downtime.
- Customizable Results: The procedure can be tailored to the needs of each patient, and thus, modest changes or dramatic changes may be made.
- Long-Lasting Results: The time to regulation, depending on the technique employed, goes from several months to several years.
Cost of Lip Augmentation Surgery
- USA: $2,000 – $5,000
- UK: $1,500 – $4,000
- India: $250 – $5,000
- Mexico: $500 – $2,500
- Thailand: $600 – $2,500
The sacrifice (and, correspondingly, the cost) is still low and high-quality lip augmentation surgery remains available in India as an alternative (compared to Western) lip augmentation surgical procedure for patients considering lip augmentation surgery.
Best Hospitals in India for Treatment
A few of the best hospitals in India providing lip augmentation surgery are:
- Metro Hospital, Faridabad
- Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon
- Max Super Speciality Hospital, Delhi
- Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Delhi
These hospitals are famous for the best cosmetic surgery rooms and expert plastic surgeons who are good at lip augmentation.
Risks and Complications
Although lip augmentation is safe in most cases, there are possible risks and complications:
- Infection: Surgery is inherently infectious, but medical management can mitigate infectious risk.
- Asymmetry: Sometimes the lips may appear uneven or lumpy.
- Allergic Reactions: For some patients, there may be an allergic reaction to filler or anesthetic drugs.
- Bruising and Swelling: Transient petechiae and edema are common, particularly with the use of injection fillers.
Rarely, lip implants can become displaced or uncomfortably located.
Recovery
Recovery in lip augmentation depends on the technique:
- Injectable Fillers: Little to no downtime is required. Mild swelling or hematoma can develop, which subsides within 2 days.
- Fat Transfer: Mild edema and ecchymoses are common and recovery can be from a couple of days. The follow-up is serious, and patients are fitted back to “normal life” within 1 week.
- Lip Implants: Recovery is 1-2 weeks with swelling and bruising improving for weeks.
- Lip Lift: Recovery time is generally 1-2 weeks, postoperative swelling and pain diminish over time.
