Lip Fillers

Lip Fillers Overview

What is a Lip Filler?

Lip fillers contain hyaluronic acid that closely mimics this natural substance in your skin to restore volume in your pout seamlessly. Lip fillers usually last at least a year, and we can even dissolve the filler if you wish. At Cosmetic Laser Dermatology in San Diego, our board-certified dermatologists are experts at injectable treatments. They can recommend the best filler and apply just the right amount to meet your aesthetic goals.

When many people hear “lip fillers,” they imagine overdone lip enhancements, but our dermatologists strive to give you a natural result that fits your facial features and compliments your face. During your consultation, one of our board-certified dermatologists will examine your face and lips and discuss what you’d like to accomplish with lip fillers. If lip fillers aren’t suitable for you, we may recommend a different procedure to help you achieve your desired look.

How Do Lip Fillers Work?

Lip fillers work by restoring volume and a desirable contour to the lips. As we age, we lose fat, collagen, and elasticity, which causes aging symptoms like thin lips, wrinkles around the mouth, and sagging skin. Our dermatologists inject dermal fillers precisely where they’re needed to add fullness to the lips and smooth out surrounding wrinkles. The body slowly absorbs the filler over the next year or so.

Types of Lip Fillers

At our San Diego medical spa, we offer the best lip fillers on the market today:

Restylane Kysse

Restylane Kysse® is the latest lip filler from the Restylane® family of dermal fillers. Its formulation uses optimal balance technology (OBT) or XpresHAn technology, allowing normal, flexible lip movement after filler injections. Our own Sabrina G. Fabi, MD, was involved in the research study that led to Kysse’s FDA approval, so our team deeply understands how to best place this filler and which patients make the best candidates. When you select a provider for your lip injections, you want experienced, highly-trained MDs you can trust with such an important cosmetic procedure.

Restylane Silk

This is the first filler from the Restylane family of dermal fillers created exclusively for the lips. Restylane Silk® provides a natural fullness to the lips and can also smooth away fine lines around the mouth. Its formulation contains lidocaine, a local anesthetic that reduces pain and discomfort during injections.

Juvéderm Volbella

Volbella® comes from the Juvéderm® family of dermal fillers, and it uses its proprietary technology called Vycross. Vycross reduces the filler’s water absorption, ensuring less swelling than other hyaluronic acid fillers that don’t have this unique technology. Studies also show the results of Volbella lip injections last longer than other lip fillers.

Belotero

Belotero Balance® is a dermal lip filler best for patients who want to smooth away smoker’s lines and other lip lines that distract from your winning smile. Belotero can also revive your vermillion border, which defines the edges of your lips and guards against the annoying lipstick “bleed.”

Lip Fillers vs. Lip Implants vs. Topical Lip Plumpers

We offer lip fillers to our patients at our San Diego medical spa seeking to augment their smiles, but you may have heard of other techniques such as implants and topical plumpers. Lip implants involve surgically inserting a biological or synthetic material into the lips. It is permanent, and plastic surgeons can only reverse the results with another surgery. Topical lip plumpers are typically the least invasive option, and they involve an external cream or device that plumps the lips. The results are less dramatic and less controllable than lip fillers and can lead to an uncomfortable stinging sensation, depending on the product.

Another popular lip treatment, lip blushing, is gaining traction at medical spas around the country. This procedure, which promises to enhance the color of your lips, can increase your risk of infection and allergic reaction. The red tattoo ink that lip blushing contains is not FDA-approved and can cause lip deformities. With extensive experience in tattoo removal and state-of-the-art technology, like the TotalTat³ laser, the board-certified dermatologists at CLDerm can effectively remove even the darkest tattoo pigments from lip blushing gone wrong.