Lip Lift in Brazil

Sometimes people come in asking for more volume, but what actually bothers them is something else: the distance to the nose has grown, the red edge of the lip is less visible, or their smile shows less of the upper teeth. That is the difference I want to understand when you point to your mouth.

With age, the upper lip tends to get longer and also thinner. In an MRI study of 200 people, the upper lip in those aged 65 to 80 was longer, thinner, and lower in volume than in those aged 20 to 30. Study on how the upper lip ages. That’s why shortening the distance to the nose doesn’t always address everything that bothers you.

I look at your face while you talk, relax, and smile. A still photo can hide the movement that matters most to the decision. I also take previous treatments into account, because fillers and surgery can change how the lip looks.

I don’t assume that bigger lips are necessarily better. I want to understand which proportions suit your features and what change you hope to see when you smile.

These comparisons help pinpoint the problem; they are not a package of treatments you are expected to have. I don’t offer fillers in my practice. If what you mainly need is volume, treatment for lines around the mouth, better support from your teeth, or a different kind of care, I will tell you so rather than fit your concern to the wrong surgery.

A lip that is naturally short, with a lot of tooth or gum showing, needs special attention. Shortening that area even further could create an effect you don’t want.

Because I only perform a lip lift together with a facelift, it is done in the same operation, in the hospital, under the facelift’s total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA). You spend one night in the hospital, the same night planned for the facelift.

In my hands, a lip lift adds about 45 minutes to the surgery. I remove the stitches at 10 days.

Dressings and follow-up visits are part of the plan for the surgery as a whole.

The scar is central to this conversation. Placing it where the nose meets the lip can help it stay discreet, but it does not keep it from being noticeable. The shape of the base of the nose, your skin type, and how you heal all affect the result.

When closing, I aim to spread the tension across the tissues. Afterward, I monitor how the scar evolves and give you instructions suited to each stage of healing. Early on, the scar may be red, raised, and firm; it takes months to mature. Smoking and sun also take a toll on the scar, so the facelift instructions apply here too: no smoking for at least two weeks before and two weeks after surgery, and no sun exposure for three months.

Removing too much can be hard to correct and may make it difficult to close the lips or leave more of your teeth showing than you want. That is why an appealing photo of someone else is never enough to decide how much surgery you need. What matters is the balance your own face can achieve.

A review by Alves Júnior and colleagues, published online in 2022 and in print in 2023, found four studies on the subnasal lip lift. They reported aesthetic improvement that held over follow-up periods of varying length, but they were retrospective cohorts and case series. This supports discussing the procedure, but it does not justify promising permanent results or guaranteed satisfaction. Review of the subnasal lip lift.

Another review, from 2023, included different techniques and measurement methods. Comparing procedures means considering the indication, the scar, and what was actually measured. For you, the useful takeaway is that how long it lasts should not be the only question: you also need to understand what change it will produce. Review of techniques and measurements.

ISAPS describes the results as generally long-lasting, noting that aging may lengthen the lip again over time. Even after a structural correction, aging continues. I judge the result by proportion, expression, and the scar over the course of follow-up, not by a photo taken right after the stitches come out.

A lip lift can cause a widened or raised scar, asymmetry, hematoma, infection, wound separation, changes in sensation, and unwanted changes to the base of the nose or to how much of your teeth show. Undercorrection and overcorrection are also possible; in some cases, revision surgery may be needed.

In the review by Yamin and colleagues, the most common complication was an aesthetically unsatisfactory result or an unfavorable scar, with a mean incidence of 7.23%. The authors themselves point out the lack of high-quality data on complications, patient selection, and contraindications.

Ongoing difficulty closing your mouth should not be treated as a cosmetic detail. Worsening pain, discharge, fever, or a significant change in skin color should be reported to the team so they can be checked.

I want you to decide with a clear picture of the benefit we are aiming for and of what the scar and recovery will ask of you. If the balance is not in your favor, postponing or not having a lip lift is also a good decision.