Don’t Pout, There’s Help For Lips
by Jackie Silver, Tribune Correspondent
Everyone has probably heard by now that hands can show your age, but did you know lips can show age, too? When you’re young, even if your lips are on the thin side they are usually smooth and naturally rosy, but as we age, our lips lose volume and the natural color we’re born with starts to fade. In addition, aging lips tend to lose definition, which is why lip liner can be a girl’s best friend.
Luckily, there are many other “tricks” we can use to help restore our lips to their youthful, pouty beauty. Lip augmentation fat transfer is a radical approach to plumping lips. It’s a cosmetic surgical procedure that involves moving fat from one area of the body to the lips in order to enhance the physical appearance of the lips. In a lip augmentation fat transfer procedure, fat is liposuctioned out of one area of the body, such as the hips or abdomen, and carefully prepared for insertion into the lips. Once prepared, the fat is injected into the lips using a blunt needle and syringe. The incisions made in a lip augmentation fat transfer procedure leave small puncture wounds that are generally less than 0.2 centimeters in diameter.
There are also many types of fillers on the market that doctors inject into lips to make them appear fuller. While injectable fillers can combat aging around the lips and mouth, not all are created equal – some can even lead to long-lasting complications, according to presenters at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Plastic Surgery 2006 conference in San Francisco. Perlane and Juvederm Ultra Plus are clear, medium volume injectable fillers with a larger molecular size that are commonly used to augment lips and fill larger areas by lifting and adding volume.
If all that sounds a little too “unnatural” for you, you may want to consider less invasive choices. California-based beauty expert Cynthia Rowland created the Luscious Lips Lip Pump 10 years ago after seeing a photo of herself that she wasn’t happy with. “I saw a headshot of myself, but I felt there was something missing about my appearance. I realized that when I smiled, my top lip disappeared and that changed how I looked. Learning that soft tissue can be enhanced using a vacuum, we pursued that avenue and voila! Luscious Lips was born,” explains Rowland.
Her Luscious Lips pump uses suction to gently coax fluid into the lips, plumping the lips while increasing circulation in the lip and mouth area. According to Rowland, Luscious Lips can increase your lip size by 50% when the specially designed vacuum engages the lips. “If you’re looking for a natural way to enhance your lips, the lip pump is an ideal solution. It’s a safe and very effective way for women – and men – to have fuller, younger looking lips,” Rowland adds.
Finally, the most simple approach is to get yourself a good lip liner to define your lips and one of the many plumping glosses available on the market. My favorite lip liner is Revlon Colorstay Lip Liner because it lasts for hours, even through eating and drinking. I line my lips with the liner, then color them in as well, followed by a light gloss on top. For more volume, you can use a plumping gloss such as O-PLUMP Intuitive Lip Plumper from Smashbox Cosmetics, which won the New Beauty Magazine Beauty Choice Award, 2011 for Best Customized Lip Plumper.
Jackie Silver is the founder and president of Aging Backwards, LLC and author of “Aging Backwards: Secrets to Staying Young.” Send your questions or comments to: jackie@agingbackwards.com. Sign up for her free newsletter at: http://agingbackwards.com/ and follow her on Twitter, @AgingBackwards.