Although there’s no denying that lip-plumping is all the craze, WCBS News Radio 880 Pat Farnack caught up with Plastic Surgeon Monica Tadros who suggests that for older patients, it may be best to go with an alternate procedure.
Truth be told, there’s so much more than just plumping your pucker, and to enhance an aging mouth, there’s one thing you need to know: it’s more than just the red part of the lip.
“One thing that I always mention to my patients is that the red part of your lip is only half of your lip,” explained Dr. Tadros. “The white skin all around it, that you can pucker with, is the rest of your lip. So the only way to make it natural is to make the function, the whole lip, rejuvenated.”
And, according to Dr. Tadros, one of the most powerful ways to make a person appear more youthful is through lip enhancement. Beyond treating fine lines around the mouth, we lose the fleshy substance (orbicular muscle) of the lip as we age. Where does it go? The muscle atrophies, the white lip skin elongates, and the red lip starts to invert inward as we age. The result a flatter longer upper lip, less red lip show, and a distinct deviation from our more youthful days.
So, how is this unwanted effect of aging reversed? Patients can turn back the hands of time by undergoing a minor surgical procedure that’s done underneath the nose:
“People are reshaping, so people ask me to address that white part that’s too long. That can be a surgical procedure that’s done underneath the nose, camouflaged inside of the nostril where we excide some skin and pull the upper lip up, and that tends to look extremely natural because you’re not even effecting the red part of the lip.”
But, just long does healing for this ‘through the nose’ procedure take? According to Dr. Tadros, no too long at all!
“We always recommend that patients pre-treat with Arnica which is a homeopathic remedy to decrease bruising. After a surgery, patients look good right away, and those stitches come out within a week.”