In the ageing process, three key areas around your mouth change and cannot be treated by lifts:
- Increase in the distance between the upper lip and nose.
- Thinning of the upper lip
- Drooping of the corners of the mouth.
The mouth, together with the eyes, is the essential age-revealing element, far more so than the cheeks or neck.
An exciting experiment using sensors showed that when addressing another person, our eyes gaze for 90% of the time at the mouth and eye areas. These two areas transmit essential perception codes: age, attractivity, charm, by dynamic rather than static analysis.
Age revealing signs around and on the mouth are:
– Lengthening of the upper lip leading to the upper teeth becoming increasingly hidden whilst the lower teeth become more apparent.
– Drooping of the corners of the mouth.
– Thinning of lip volume.
– Progressive fading of “Cupid’s bow” and the philtrum (outline of the mouth).
– And lastly, the appearance of concentric wrinkles around the mouth similar to crow’s feet, caused by incessant, repeated contracting and releasing movements (accordion wrinkles).
How may we improve matters?
“Soft” procedures:
Soft techniques can consider and improve all perioral areas and, of course, treat the skin and its glow, which all told, are the fundamental emotional factors concerning age appreciation.
Hyaluronic acid will define the lips better and restore their original volume (a photo of a young you will guide the treatment). Moreover, it will lessen marionette lines and give support to the corners of the mouth by lifting them.
Botulinic toxin minimises the “negative” and “damaging” muscular tenseness on the chin, corner of the mouth and all its the perioral area. Overall relaxation of these muscles gives a very positive emotional result.
Certain machines, notably ultrasound ones, can go beyond the skin without damaging it, in order to achieve muscle retention without resorting to surgery, and even, at the cost of slight redness, to smooth the mouth contour.
Soft skin peels which are not disabling, LED lights, mesotherapy, or even better, “micro-needling” provided they are repeated over three sessions, will finish the work by giving a younger complexion and skin texture. Deeper peeling or the use of appropriate lasers by experienced dermatologists will give excellent results but will require social downtime and perhaps a little depigmentation.
We may also offer you other options : hyaluronic acid of different size molecules, a deeper filler for soft tissues, a product to stimulate the collagen in the cheeks, a filler which uses your own blood to diminish the effects of ageing by gradually increasing volume through collagen production….
Surgical procedures:
Several different procedures may be combined in the perioral area to give optimum results.
A lip lift shortens a drooping or too long upper lip. Scarring in the nose is practically invisible and often, the youthful effect gained is better than that of a facelift.
Removal of the “depressor anguli oris” muscle with a scar inside the mouth releases the downward pull of the corners of the mouth.
The filling of the lips through lipostructure or hyaluronic acid may be used in the same intervention.
Of course, these surgical procedures lead to light swelling and bruising which disappear within a week.
MY ADVICE: avoid any excesses with which you will be pleased to start with but will certainly regret as time goes by when you realise your mouth does not look natural, that you resemble a caricatural avatar like so many patients do! Avoid ridiculous duck lips, choose a pretty, harmonious, well-balanced lip, which has been slightly plumped up and rehydrated!
MON CONSEIL : Eviter surtout les excès qui vous satisferont peut-être immédiatement, mais que vous regretterez certainement avec le temps quand vous réaliserez que votre bouche aura perdu son naturel, que vous ressemblerez à un avatar caricatural comme tant d’autres patientes ! Avoid ridiculous duck lips, choose a pretty, harmonious, well-balanced lip, which has been slightly plumped up and rehydrated!