Botox injections into the lips to increase and correct the shape - is this real?

Botox and other botulinum toxin preparations are widely used in cosmetology for lip contouring and, when used correctly, can eliminate some serious defects that cannot be corrected by other means.

For example, Botox can be used to raise or, conversely, lower the corners of the lips, make the upper lip pressed more tightly and noticeably, and correct a very unsightly gum smile. Using botulinum toxin preparations, obvious pathologies are also eliminated - curvature of the mouth and lower part of the face with hemifacial spasm, noticeable scars after various injuries. At the same time, the procedures for administering the appropriate drugs themselves are considered practically safe.

Nevertheless, a large number of unfounded fears and myths are associated with injections of botulinum toxins into the mouth. For example, some women believe that Botox is designed to “pump up” the lips and significantly increase their volume. Horror stories about such ugly “botex” lips are the main reason that many women are very afraid of botulinum therapy in general and injections in the lips in particular.

In fact, Botox has nothing to do with “pumped” lips. With this drug it is generally impossible to physically increase their volume, although it allows you to some extent affect the shape and contours of the mouth.

Why Botox is poked on the lips, what such procedures can be dangerous and what exactly happens in those situations that women are most afraid of - when after the procedure the lips “swell” on half of the face, we will tell in this article.

 

Using Botox and Fillers for Lip Contouring

The largest number of cosmetic injection procedures in the mouth are performed using fillers. These are special fillers that, when introduced into the tissues of the body, fill the space between cells and cellular structures, leading to an increase in the volume of tissues at the injection sites. It is with them that the lips “pump up”.

Some fillers are completely neutral for the tissues themselves and do not affect their functioning, while others contribute to the regeneration of the skin and the restoration of its normal structure.

Of these fillers, hyaluronic acid is the most famous, which increases the volume and provides biorevitalization of the skin. Biodegradable excipients (that is, those that dissolve over time, which leads to the restoration of the original volume of the lips) based on human or bovine collagen, as well as fat taken from other parts of the patient’s body (the so-called autologous tissues), are also quite often used.

Permanent fillers, which are not removed from the tissues and provide almost lifelong preservation of the contours and volume of the lips obtained after injection, are used somewhat less frequently.

It is with filler injections (and not Botox and its analogues) that lip volume increases. Actually, for this they are mainly intended. And just the wrong amount of filler is the reason that the lips grow too much, disproportionately to the facial features, become unnaturally “pumped up” and actually disfigure the face. If the filler is also non-biodegradable, then this effect alone will not pass with time, and to eliminate it, you will have to carry out a complex operation to clean out the filler. And since such removal of the product is much more complicated and dangerous than the introduction, often people have to go around for years with pumped lips.

It is interesting

All known cases of celebrities with unsuccessful face sculptures, when there was a significant increase in the lips, are associated with attempts to download exactly the filler to create a larger volume of them. Also, the correction in which the notorious “duck” lips are obtained is made precisely by fillers. Botox in such procedures, if applied, is only in addition to fillers, and does not affect the lip volume itself.

Botox is used for completely different purposes. Its task is the weakening or complete deactivation of certain muscles, the involuntary tension of which leads to certain features of the appearance of the lips. For example, if it is because of the tension of the circular muscle of the mouth that the upper lip is constantly pressed and looks too thin, it is the botulinum toxin preparation that will allow this muscle to relax. After this, the lip rises slightly, slightly turns out (as it should be turned out normally), due to which its natural volume will appear. Nevertheless, one should not count on a radical effect in this case.

The photo shows what such a “tightened” lip looks like before and after botulinum therapy:

Similarly, Botox eliminates some other lip defects, but does not affect their volume in any way. For example, in the photo on the left there is a view of the upper lip with an abundance of small wrinkles before Botox injections, and on the right it is after therapy:

Therefore, the view that, to one degree or another, enlarged, including terrible "pumped" lips - Botox, is a fallacy. It is most related to the fact that, from the injection procedures, it is the introduction of Botox that is most known and actually is heard. Therefore, when a person sees that the patient’s lips are clearly excessively filled with something, it first occurs to him that they had to be “pumped” with Botox, which is not really the case.

At the same time, injections of fillers and botulinum toxin preparations are often combined to obtain one or another desired effect. Sometimes, regardless of the procedure for lip augmentation, it is necessary to eliminate wrinkles around them, sometimes it is necessary to remove the undesirable consequences of the filler filling procedure itself, if it leads to a change in the activity of the surrounding muscles. In some cases, on the contrary, botulinum therapy is the main procedure, and fillers are injected to “polish” the effects obtained. Moreover, situations when Botox really needs Botox or a similar drug, in fact, quite a lot.

Feedback

I have had a problem all my life - a very thin upper lip. Rather, it is almost nonexistent. Because of this, even the complex developed from the age of 15, when I could not, like my peers, normally paint my lips. Somehow painted on them, but it did not give a special effect. Once I came across an advertisement for a beauty salon, where they promised to enlarge my upper lip with Botox. The salon is good, well-known, the whole procedure costs 1000 rubles - very divine. I decided to take a chance, although I was very afraid to be like those girls who are shown on all channels as victims of plastic surgeons. I came to the clinic, the doctor looked, felt, says, yes, it is Botox that is needed to twist the lip. I injected 4 units (I don’t know how many cubes it is), it was painful to give injections, but in general it was tolerable. The needles are thin, thinner than insulin, and the pain is mainly with the introduction of the product, and not with a puncture of the skin. So, right after the procedure there is no effect, I'm going home to sleep. The next day I go to look at my beautiful lips and almost faint in front of the mirror: nothing grew anywhere, did not rise, only a clear bump appeared on the upper edge of the mouth, as if a wasp had bitten there. I'm in a panic, I call the doctor, she says - everything is fine, they say, the swelling will go away, you'll be beautiful. 2-3 days walk like that. It looked like the swelling was gone. Do you think something has changed? Not a bit! What were the lips before the injections, such remained.Six months later (!!!) I call the doctor, she says: everything is fine, you need to wait. What to expect if Botox does not hold so much? Now I figured out the question, I realized that I do not need Botox at all - the lip is not wrapped, but simply thin, it would be pricked with a hyaluron. But now I'm afraid that the procedure is expensive, but with such a responsibility they might do worse. Plus, it cannot be pulled out upon failure, but if everything is good, then it does not last so much time, it can be harmful. I’m thinking about tattooing, but what if it helps?

Elena, Moscow

 

Cosmetic effects achieved with the introduction of the drug into the lips and nearby tissues

In some cases, botulinum therapy alone is enough for full lip contouring. In particular, with the help of Botox, one can achieve the following results:

• Elimination of radial wrinkles around the mouth;
• Elimination of lip asymmetry, both static (the edges of the lips on both sides of the face are located at different heights when the mouth is closed) and dynamic (the edges of the mouth are at different heights and move differently when a person is talking or expressing certain emotions) ;

• An increase in the eversion of the upper or lower lip, if it is strongly compressed due to the hypertonicity of the circular muscle of the mouth and therefore looks too narrow. The same effect provides a decrease in the distance from the edge of the upper lip to the nose (sometimes a large distance spoils the appearance here);
• On the contrary, a decrease in eversion, if, for example, the lower lip “sticks out” due to excessive activity of the lower part of the circular muscle;
• Raising the corners of the mouth when they are omitted and the formation of a "dull" face. But the omission of the corners when they are raised is usually carried out by injections into the zygomatic muscles located outside the perioral region;
• Elimination of the “gummy smile” effect, when, due to excessive muscle strength and too short lips, the gum is bared above the upper teeth when smiling;
• Partial or complete (depending on the etiology and individual characteristics) smoothing of the labial fold;
• Shortening puppet lines;
• Strengthening the effect of filler injections in patients with severe facial expressions.

Obtaining all of these effects requires literally jewelry accuracy when breeding a botulinum toxin preparation and choosing the points for its administration. Errors here can lead to defects that are more noticeable than those that Botox aims to fix. Nevertheless, a professional doctor, using Botox alone, can significantly rejuvenate both the patient's lips and the surrounding areas.

It is important to note here that Botox is not only a cosmetology, but also a medical tool that allows in some cases to treat serious pathologies. For example, in the general case, botulinum toxin is treated for spastic convulsions, torticollis, horse foot syndrome in children with cerebral palsy, as well as diseases not associated with excessive muscle activity - hyperhidrosis, migraine and some others. In this case, and for injection into the lips, Botox can be used for certain medical conditions.

 

Typical problems solved by injecting botulinum toxin into the circular muscle of the mouth

The main field of application of Botox in cosmetology is the elimination of dynamic wrinkles formed due to the constant activity of facial muscles. However, in some cases, Botox may be indicated for insertion into the lips or the area around them, regardless of the presence of wrinkles.

The main cosmetological indication for injections of botulinum toxin preparations in the mouth area is a hemifacial spasm, which leads to immobilization of part of the face (usually on one side) and its noticeable curvature.Sometimes such a spasm not only creates cosmetic defects, but also complicates the intake of food, leads to impaired diction and uncontrolled salivation. In these cases, Botox injections are needed to normalize the patient's life and prevent psychological problems.

Asymmetry of the lips and gingival smile, although considered to be cosmetic defects, they rarely relate to indications for botulinum therapy, since they have little effect on the patient's quality of life. Nevertheless, Botox and its analogues are the only means to effectively eliminate these shortcomings without surgery.

Almost always, Botox is indicated for introduction into the circular muscle of the mouth, if the effect of filler injections is insufficient precisely because of the activity and the large force of contraction of this muscle.

All these are the main indications for botulinum therapy. Botox injections for wrinkle removal are already considered a kind of auxiliary procedures, which are not urgently needed, but which, nevertheless, are carried out more often than injections for the treatment of pathologies.

Feedback

I’ll run ahead a lot and say right away: I’m very happy with the procedure, everything is fine, the result exceeded all my expectations. It was only to slightly remove the wrinkles above the upper lip, they became very noticeable, although everyone said that I was winding myself. So, the doctor said that it would be possible not only to remove them, but also to make the lip itself more noticeable, puffier. This is very helpful, otherwise it’s too narrow for me. In general, they did. What I note is very, very painful. As a tooth was drilled in childhood, it was already squinting. But this did not last long, after about half an hour the pain passed. The next day, miracles began to appear. The wrinkles were smoothed out, as I had hoped. And in addition the sponge really became more noticeable! And she was not swollen, not swollen, but simply rose a little, as if twisted. The doctor said that it should be so - the lip was pressed by the same muscles, due to which the wrinkles appeared, and when the muscles relaxed, the lip was "released" and the wrinkles disappeared. The result is incredible, I would not have believed it if I had not looked in the mirror: for the first time in my life, my lip has become so beautiful. In two months I’m going to do it again - the doctor said that Botox is enough for 6-8 months, but it’s already starting to release me slowly, the stripes over my mouth are drawn. This is a minus, of course - in order to preserve the beauty now, you need to go stabbing constantly, but it is better than looking at an aging face every morning. Moreover, Botox is not dangerous for me, there are no consequences after the procedure, and this is a big plus.

Victoria, from forum posts

 

What effects do not exactly appear when Botox is injected into the mouth

Many ideas about the goals and results of botulinum therapy are initially erroneous. These are peculiar myths that sometimes arise for completely ridiculous reasons and are completely untrue.

We have already considered one of them above: Botox does not increase lips. Some visual effect of the increase can be given by injections that allow you to “turn out” narrow and constantly tightened lips, but in this case only a natural volume will be visible that does not exactly disfigure the face.

The photo below shows an example of such a botulinum treatment effect:

No lips on half the face, no duck-face after Botox.

Further, after Botox injections, severe lip pain or foreign body sensation does not occur. Such consequences are characteristic precisely of filler injections, due to the presence of which there is an excess of fullness in the lips, a feeling of fullness, and pain with irritation or damage to nerve endings. After botulinum therapy, itching may be felt at the injection sites for 1-2 days, but it quickly disappears.

Botox does not allow you to get rid of herpes on the lips, because it does not affect the viral infection and its external manifestations. Attempts to quickly get rid of the “cold” by injecting botulinum toxin will not yield any result.

Also, Botox does not cause cancer, does not lead to a deterioration in intellectual abilities, does not cause addiction and does not accelerate skin aging - all these misconceptions are widespread among patients of cosmetology clinics and are equally erroneous both with respect to Botox injections in the forehead or eyes, and in relation to injections on the lips.

Nevertheless, some side effects and complications after Botox injections into the lips may occur. We will talk about them further.

 

A combination of Botox and fillers for lip contouring

In each case, to obtain a cosmetic result, the doctor selects the most effective set of procedures according to his assumptions. These can be independent injections of fillers without Botox (the most common option), there can only be botulinum therapy (a rarer case), and there may be a combination of injections of fillers and botulinum toxin (as a rule, it is carried out least often).

Fillers themselves are used to increase the volume of lips (including with age-related thinning), eliminate age constrictions on them, biorevitalize with natural aging of the skin, to eliminate deep gravity and age wrinkles that are not associated with facial expressions (in particular, with puppet lines). In these cases, the task of fillers is to fill in the hollows in the skin, which are wrinkles.

Botox without fillers is used in situations where it is necessary to eliminate wrinkles or defects caused precisely by the activity of the facial muscles. This activity may be due to either increased emotionality and severe facial expressions, or pathologies (for example, cramping). If, according to the doctor, relaxation or complete inactivation of these muscles will eliminate the creases on the skin, there is no need for fillers.

The combination of Botox and fillers is required when using the same type of drugs to fully achieve the desired result is not obtained. For example:

• After the injection of fillers, fine wrinkles remain over the lips, the corners either remain slightly lower or lower when the volume of the lips increases (here Botox compensates for the side effect of the filler), after applying the fillers defects remain that can be eliminated only by Botox or its analogues;
• After Botox injections in places of wrinkles or other defects, their traces are preserved due to the specifics of the skin condition. In this case, fillers are introduced into wrinkles to restore volume, smooth the skin and regenerate its internal structure.

Sometimes one remedy is required to enhance the effect of another, while at the expense of small amounts of each of them, the risk of side effects is reduced. However, such jewelry practice is available only to very professional cosmetologists who can accurately assess the effect of each product individually and predict the result of their combination.

The combination of Botox and fillers is associated with some technical difficulties. So:

• The complex procedure is generally more expensive than monotherapy, since its price largely depends on the cost of the drug - the more it is used, the less the unit costs;
• More injections are required, which means that the difficulty in choosing the points of administration of the drug increases;
• It is often difficult to predict the effect of the use of each of the funds in order to prepare in advance the necessary quantities of an additional drug. Therefore, you need to act on the basis of the current situation, which increases the risk of error;
• Mutual negative influence of funds on each other is possible.

For this reason, botulinum therapy and the introduction of fillers are usually spread in time, making a gap of 7-10 days between them. Then after one procedure, you can evaluate the final result and adjust it with an auxiliary tool.
With this combination, the main drug is injected first, and the auxiliary is pierced later, adjusting the effect.

On a note

Most cosmetologists believe that when combining drugs, you should first introduce a filler, and then Botox, because in this case botulinum toxin will allow you to correct certain errors that occurred when the filler was administered. Correcting filler errors made during Botox injections is much more difficult.

 

Specific problems associated with botulinum toxin lip repair

Even if we talk only about the use of Botox for lip plastic surgery, it is necessary to mention some of the difficulties associated with injections in this area.

First: the procedure is not suitable for people whose professional activity is associated with active speech or singing. In many cases, botulinum therapy of the perioral region leads to some defects of diction and voice changes that will be almost invisible to an “ordinary” person, but will be critical for a public speaker, singer, television presenter or actor.

Another problem is that practically no muscle and even no muscle fiber in the mouth can be completely “turned off”. Here, the doctor is required to masterfully master the technique of injection therapy and a very accurate study of the patient’s anatomy in order to achieve a reduction in muscle contraction force during injections, but to avoid complete paresis. This is very difficult, since it actually requires a point effect on the individual fibers of each particular muscle.

Further, many of the effects of using Botox for lip surgery are associated with specific undesirable effects. They do not happen so often, but are quite possible. Among them - drying and further cracking of the inner side of the lips with their significant turn, lisping, whistling when pronouncing hissing sounds, difficulties when drinking through a tube or from a bottle. That is, after the procedures, control over the movements of the lips is sometimes partially lost.

Finally, very small amounts of Botox are used for injection into the perioral region. We have already said about the financial component, but we add that here the work of a specialist is much more expensive than the drug itself. In addition, it can be very inconvenient for a cosmetologist to open a separate bottle of Botox for the sake of 2-4 units, and the patient does not always give consent to work with the remains of another procedure.

 

Contraindications and possible complications after the procedures

Botox and fillers should not be injected into the lips and the circular muscle of the mouth if there are signs of infectious diseases and skin lesions - the same herpes, fungal crusts, acne, jam. Such pathologies may intensify after the procedure.

Sometimes dynamic lip asymmetry may be a contraindication for the introduction of Botox. The fact is that in some cases, such a violation of facial expressions is associated with specific features of a person's face and the work of his muscles. If the doctor sees that muscle denervation does not work out, he decides not to perform the procedure at all.

The smaller disadvantages of botulinum lip therapy can be:

• Elongation of the upper border and the entire skin of the upper lip. It is difficult to imagine in advance how the face will change after the introduction of Botox, and often the lips themselves can become what the patient imagined them to be, but in general the face will become less attractive than before the procedure;
• Visual "weighting" of the lower jaw during correction of the labial commissures;
• Excessive and unnatural smoothing of the skin over the upper lip, which will give the impression of swelling;
• Violation of facial expressions and the impression of unnaturalness of expressed emotions.

Side effects from the introduction of fillers may be more serious. For example, this:

• Lip seal at the injection site;
• A prolonged sensation of the presence of a foreign body in the lips;
• Pain;
• Unnatural appearance and shape of the lips;
• Migration of the drug to undesirable areas with the further development of cosmetic defects;
• The formation of scars and scars at injection sites.

Individual patients may develop an allergy to the administered drug. In this case, the doctor takes measures to stop the allergic reaction and stops the procedure. If the patient’s allergy to the drug is already known, it can not be pricked.

On a note

There is no cross allergy between fillers and botulinum toxin. If a person is allergic to hyaluronic acid, he may be allowed to inject Botox, and vice versa. The same situation with different types of fillers: with an allergy to methacrylate, collagen or hyaluronan may be used.

Unambiguous contraindications to any injections for cosmetic purposes are pregnancy, the period of breastfeeding, the acute phase of an infectious disease, the presence of cancer.

 

Which is better: Botox, or fillers?

So, we conclude: it is impossible to unequivocally talk about the advantage of Botox over fillers or vice versa. In each case, not only the optimal, but the only suitable remedy will be either botulinum toxin or filler, and it is unlikely that it will be possible to replace one with another. In some situations, both tools can be used, one as the main one, and the other in addition.

Botox is suitable in order to eliminate dynamic wrinkles near the lips, lift the corners of the mouth, slightly turn the upper lip pressed by the muscle, adjust its lifting with a smile so that the gum is not exposed. Fillers are also suitable for volumetric lip augmentation, filling and smoothing of static wrinkles, contour correction of the shape of the lips and biorevitalization of the skin around them.

Combination therapy is indicated for the complex etiology of cosmetic defects, a combination of the facial factor and age-related changes in the structure of the skin. In these cases, Botox and one of the fillers are used, but it will not work out with just one thing.

What specific procedure should the patient go to? This is decided only by the doctor after diagnosis, assessment of etiological factors and discussion of the desired results of therapy. It is he who can accurately predict which remedy will give the desired result, and then correctly carry out the procedure. For this reason, you should not try to decide on your own whether to inject Botox or filler, and even more so you should not try to buy a product and carry out such procedures yourself at home. The consequences can be the saddest, even to the point that many people scare each other. For the same reason, it is worth choosing a really good doctor and not chasing the cheapness of the clinic: Botox should be done on the lips once every six months or a year, and the difference in price of 1,500-2,000 rubles in this case will not be significant. But the result of the procedure for doctors with different price tags can vary radically.

 

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An informative video about correcting gingival smile with Botox