Your lips play a role in all of life’s big moments—saying “I do” at your wedding, grabbing lunch with friends, laughing with your little ones, and articulating your thoughts in a board meeting.
As a primary means of communicating your feelings to the world, your lips often take center stage on your face. But if you feel dissatisfied with the shape, size, or projection of your lips, you might dislike drawing attention to your mouth, preferring to subdue your smile in photos and in your day-to-day life.
Whether you were born with smaller lips, or you have noticed them flattening with age, you should not have to hide your lower face. Instead, we can work with you to define your beautiful smile.
At The Well Westlake, our expert injectors can use strategically placed dermal fillers to subtly augment, balance, or refresh your lips. Discover how artful injectables can enable your natural beauty to shine, or book a consultation to reignite your confidence with lip fillers in Westlake.
Why Do My Lips Thin With Age?
While some individuals are born with smaller lips, others notice their lips becoming thinner, flatter, duller, or less defined as the years go by. It helps to understand what causes changes in the appearance of your lips.
Often, you can attribute the evolving look of your smile to the natural facial aging process.
Over time, your teeth and the bones in your jaw recede, drawing the overlying tissues inwards and contributing to a more sunken look. The overused muscles in and around your mouth may also weaken and sag, losing their youthful lift. As a result, your lips may appear to thin and turn downwards at the edges, making your cupid’s bow wider and less distinct.
The once-pillowy fat pads throughout your face might also droop or reposition themselves to fit the changing bony structure below. When these fat deposits migrate, they often exacerbate the appearance of your nasolabial folds. You might also lose volume in these fat pads if you are working to reduce your weight naturally or with support from medical interventions.
The overall result: your rosy lips may lose their plump, youthful projection, steadily thinning and drawing downwards.
What Causes the Lines Around My Smile?
Along with changes in the body and border of your lips, you may also see shifts in the tissue surrounding your mouth, or the perioral region.
The perioral region encompasses your lips, the space between your nose and mouth, and the nasolabial folds framing your smile. When you constantly use the muscles in the perioral region to sip from a straw, apply lipstick, or otherwise purse your lips, the repeated tension creates folds in your skin.
This recurring muscular activity typically occurs alongside natural skin degradation. With age, our skin loses its ability to regenerate essential collagen and elastin fibers. Without a strong dermal structure, the tissue becomes thin and less elastic, prone to folding and wrinkling.
Eventually, these creases that form with your muscle movements can remain even when your mouth is at rest, leaving behind a lined, puckered look. These grooves, known as straw, lipstick, or smoker’s lines, can age your lower face and even make your lips look smaller.
How We Use Filler to Restore Plush Volume
The good news is that you do not have to accept unwanted changes to your smile. At The Well Westlake, we can craft a thoughtful treatment plan that addresses your concerns and honors your anatomy, creating subtle, natural-looking refinements that feel true to you. The key is artfully placed dermal fillers.
Our providers often recommend lip fillers in Westlake for patients experiencing:
- Blurry-looking vermilion borders
- Flattened cupid’s bow
- Thinning lips
- Reduced projection
- Diminished pigmentation
- Uneven upper and lower lips
- Reduced plumpness and hydration
With expertly executed filler, a perfectly kissable pout is within reach. And the primary ingredient in your lip filler—hyaluronic acid—helps your lips stay plump and hydrated long after injection.
At The Well Westlake, the first step to making your vision a reality is a consultation.
Planning Your Treatment
To begin your care, one of our licensed providers invites you into the practice for a consultation. During this conversation, your practitioner listens attentively as you describe your goals for treatment and your medical history. Then, they assess your facial structure to craft a treatment plan that best serves you.
Most adult patients struggling with volume or definition loss are excellent candidates for lip fillers in Westlake. However, your provider may recommend waiting to schedule an appointment or seeking care with alternative treatments if you are:
- Pregnant or breastfeeding
- Allergic to lidocaine
- Actively fighting an infection in or around your mouth, as with a cold sore
- Living with an autoimmune disease like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis
Once we confirm lip filler could help you achieve the smile you are envisioning, your provider will walk through your formula options. At The Well Westlake, we use hyaluronic acid blends from proven brands like Juvéderm and Restylane. Your personalized care plan could include:
- Juvéderm Ultra Plus XC
- Juvéderm Ultra XC
- Restylane Kysse
- Restylane Defyne
- Restylane Refyne
- Restylane-L
After crafting your treatment plan with the optimal filler formula, your provider schedules your filler appointment, sending you home with pre-care instructions to follow prior to your injections. In certain cases, we can complete your treatment on the same day as your consultation.
Preparing for Your Filler Injections
Typically, we recommend patients follow a few simple guidelines before an appointment for lip fillers in Westlake. These steps often include:
- Hydrate well by drinking plenty of water prior to your injections.
- In the days leading up to your appointment, wear a protective lip balm containing SPF to shield your lips from sun damage.
- Kindly refrain from drinking alcohol or using tobacco products within 48 hours of your procedure.
- Avoid taking blood-thinning medications (like aspirin) less than 24 hours prior to treatment.
- Arrive at your appointment with clean lips, free of makeup or skincare products, including lip balm.
Making these adaptations to your daily routine promotes optimal skin health, laying a smoother foundation for your injectable treatment.
Placing Your Lip Filler
On the day of your appointment for lip filler in Westlake, our nurse practitioners welcome you into our tranquil treatment space. You can recline and relax as your expert injector gets to work.
First, your practitioner cleanses any lingering oil or product from your lips. Then, they mark the agreed-upon injection sites, applying a topical numbing cream to your mouth and perioral region as needed.
Next, your provider precisely places your injections. The filler formula instantly adds volume and lift to the treated area, whether we use it to smooth signs of aging, shape your Cupid’s bow, define your vermilion border, or plump the body of your lips.
If you received injections with Restylane Kysse, you may even notice that your lips look rosier after treatment, as the formula also enhances the texture and color of the lips.
After concluding your injections, your provider explains the steps you can take to care for your lips.
Caring for Your Smile
Though you can walk out of your appointment for lip fillers in Westlake and resume your day as usual, you can preserve optimal results by following the recommended post-care steps:
- Use a cool compress to ease any mild swelling or bruising.
- Continue to drink plenty of fluids to support skin healing.
- Resist the urge to touch your face or apply makeup (including lip balm) for the first 1 to 2 days following your injections.
- Sleep on your back (face-up) for the first 48 hours to avoid putting pressure on your freshly treated lips.
- After the first 48 hours, resume using lip balm with SPF to protect your lips.
Observing your provider’s instructions supports the longevity and strategic placement of your lip filler. At your follow-up appointment 2 weeks after your injections, your practitioner assesses your healing progress and your satisfaction with the renewed volume.
Maintaining Your Results
With proper care, you can enjoy your refined smile for months to come. In fact, many patients enjoy fuller, more defined lips for up to 1 year after treatment.
You are welcome to schedule annual or biannual touch-ups at The Well Westlake, or book maintenance injections as desired.
Complementing Your Filler With Compatible Treatments
Lip fillers also pair beautifully with additional aesthetic treatments. Your expert provider can collaborate with you to curate complementary services within your treatment plan.
Importantly, the power of filler is not limited to your mouth. We can use dermal fillers to correct stubborn hollows and creases around your face, gently rebuilding volume and structure.
And if you seek to establish further harmony throughout your features and achieve a more holistically youthful appearance, we can weave in wrinkle-relaxing injectables.
If you are experiencing more extensive skin concerns beyond signs of aging, we can incorporate targeted skin rejuvenation treatments or facials.
As with any treatment plan at The Well Westlake, your care can evolve as your goals do.
Reclaim Your Smile at Any Age
Plusher, more defined lips do not have to be a thing of the past. Many patients enjoy renewed confidence in their smiles with delicate, natural-looking enhancements.
Reclaim your perfectly kissable pout with expertly administered lip fillers in Westlake.
