By Doctor Christophe Desouches
Correcting the lips according to the right proportions
The lips are a major asset for seduction and play a central role in balancing out the face. For a natural and bespoke result, the lips’ enhancement should respect their ideal proportions, try to highlight their shape as opposed to modifying it, and involve the use of hyaluronic acid gels with suitable textures.
Choosing the right filler and right texture
Hyaluronic acid injections are the ideal solution for lip enhancement, as they allow for adjustable correction. This delicate and mobile area requires specific textures that are able to correct the volumes and be shaped so that they integrate perfectly into the lips’ movement. ART FILLER® Lips by Filorga is a malleable hyaluronic acid gel which is particularly suitable for the lip area.
The ideal proportions
Since ancient times, artists have been searching for the ideal proportions that make a face attractive and balanced. The knowledge and respect of these artistic ratios enable us to shape a patient’s mouth and make it more balanced. Lip correction which does not respect these proportions could unbalance the whole face. In order for the face to be harmonious, the lower face should be made up of three equal parts: the upper lip, the lower lip and the chin. The ratio between the upper lip and the lower lip is 1/3 to 2/3. A vertical line passes between the inner edge of the iris and the outer corner of the mouth, enabling us to define its ideal width.
An artistic approach to anatomy
The orbicularis oris muscle, or “kissing muscle”, creates the lips’ framework. It is responsible for their fleshy, plump appearance. Good anatomical and physiological knowledge is vital when correcting imbalances and for achieving the most natural-looking results possible. The lips are not just two cushions which need filling! From an embryological point of view, the upper lip is created by the fusion of buds, the middle one of which is the fleshiest and gives the upper lip its volume. The lower lip is made up of only two fleshy buds. It is important to take these anatomical differences into account in order to correct the lips in an intelligent and artistic way, and so as not to completely transform the patients’ lips. What women are mostly looking for nowadays is to make their lips look plump and soft but not over-corrected, to reshape thinning lips and to rebalance the lips’ volumes while avoiding a radical transformation.
Intelligent and artistic correction
Whatever the technique used, the practitioner should respect the theory of ideal proportions and each patient’s anatomy and particularities in order to achieve a natural-looking enhancement.
In aesthetic medicine, the “best” does not always mean the “most suitable”, and this is never more true than when we are talking about the lips! There are currently too many “duck faces” around, which could have been avoided with good knowledge of two main principles: Firstly, sometimes, all we need to do is give the lip line and philtrum (medial cleft), whose contours fade with age, a little more definition to see a clear improvement to the lips. Secondly, the correction of the lips’ volumes should be done with precaution! It is important to plump up each “bud” of the lower and upper lip separately, rather than injecting laterally from the corners of the mouth, otherwise you run the risk of creating an unattractive fish lips.
