What’s the difference between a lip flip and lip filler? A question we often receive! At Thistle Medical Aesthetics, our team of our aesthetic Nurse Practitioners offer non-surgical enhancements that are natural and subtle. If you’re looking to enhance your lips but are not quite sure of your options, keep reading for more details!
How Our Lips Can Change Over Time
Subtle signs of aging can creep up on us and make a difference in our overall appearance– even in our lips! While some people may start noticing changes in their late 20s, most start to see lost volume and lip thinning in their 30s and 40s. Aging is inevitable, but there are ways to restore any volume loss in the lips and enhance lip hydration while still maintaining natural looking results. Our team of aesthetic providers are here to help you age gracefully!
After the age of 25, we lose about 1% of collagen every year. Collagen and elastin keep our lips plump and youthful. As we mature, that production slows down over time leading to the loss of volume, firmness, and definition. Overtime, your lips and the surrounding muscles weaken making lips appear less defined. Sun exposure, smoking, overall dehydration, and other lifestyle factors can all accelerate collagen breakdown. Excessive movement like frequent pursing, sipping through a straw, or smoking can also speed up volume loss. Plus, some of us are simply predisposed to thinner lips as well as losing lip volume faster than others (thanks, Mom and Dad!)
Non-Surgical Glow-Up
Our team is proud to offer non-surgical enhancements that are relatively quick and have minimal to no downtime. These aesthetic treatments are perfect for busy people because you’re in and out, and most people return to their daily routine immediately afterward. Whenever we introduce a needle to the face with any aesthetic treatment, there is always the chance of bruising and swelling and may take up to 2-3 weeks to fully resolve. Whether you want just a hint of plumpness or a noticeable boost in volume, your aesthetic provider can tailor the treatment to your goals. Our team of expert providers have a variety of tools in our toolbox to provide you with the most natural looking results! We will take into deep consideration what product is best for you that looks the most natural but has the biggest impact on your confidence.
Lip Filler
Lip filler is a popular non-surgical aesthetic enhancement that can add volume, definition, and structure to the lips. For the lips, our studio uses hyaluronic acid based fillers which means it’s a hydrophilic substance naturally occurring in our body. Hydrophilic means “water loving” allowing moisture to get pulled into the area. The beauty of using dermal fillers in the lips is that the treatment can be tailored to your desired outcome whether that means adding subtle volume or simply enhancing your lip shape. It can also be used to reduce the appearance of lip lines creating a hydrated look! Our aesthetic Nurse Practitioner will carefully select the dermal filler based on the texture and thickness that would fit best in the treated areas to reap the most natural looking results. The brands we carry at Thistle are Restylane, Juvederm, and RHA dermal fillers.
What To Expect:
In preparation for your lip filler treatment, we recommend that you refrain from taking any blood thinning medications or supplements such as Aspirin, Ibuprofen, vitamin E, and fish oil. We also ask that you avoid any alcohol consumption at least 48 hours prior to your treatment. We recommend taking arnica montana tablets (oral) that you can get over the counter starting five to seven days prior to your treatment. Eating fresh pineapple can also help with bruising as it has natural enzymes that have anti-inflammatory properties. At the beginning of your lip filler appointment, we will review your medical history, get you consented for the procedure, take your before and after photos for your chart, discuss what your specific goals are for your treatment, and assess which filler product we will use to create your desired outcome! We will apply a topical numbing cream for about 10-15 minutes to make it more comfortable for you with an optional dental block as requested. There’s also lidocaine that’s infused into the filler so as we are injecting you it gets a little more numb as the treatment goes on. Results are immediate. Swelling and bruising is expected and may take up to 2-3 weeks to subside and the filler to fully integrate with your lip tissue. Depending on your metabolism and lifestyle, most clients may enjoy their results for 6-12 months before needing another touchup!
Lip Flip
A lip flip is a quick, non-invasive treatment that uses neuromodulators such as Botox, Dysport, or Daxxify to relax the orbicularis oris muscle around your lip. This results in a subtle “flip” of your lip outward or more visible pink of the lip, creating the look of a fuller lip without actually adding any volume. It is ideal for those who are looking for a subtle enhancement, to reduce a gummy smile, or if you want to dip your toes in the water before lip filler!
What To Expect:
In preparation for your lip flip neuromodulator treatment, we recommend that you refrain from taking any blood thinning medications or supplements such as Aspirin, Ibuprofen, vitamin E, and fish oil. We also ask that you avoid any alcohol consumption at least 48 hours prior to your treatment. At the beginning of your appointment, we will review your medical history, get you consented for the procedure, take your before and after photos for your chart, discuss what your specific goals are for your treatment, and assess which brand of neuromodulator we will use. The treatment itself requires about 4-8 units and takes no longer than 15 minutes with the actual injection time being less than five minutes. Results may take up to 2 weeks to kick in and can last approximately 6-8 weeks.
PSA: Sometimes a lip flip can make it feel a little different while drinking from a straw or pronouncing certain letters in the first week—this feeling is totally normal and goes away as you adjust!
Whether you’re team lip filler, team lip flip, or team both, our aesthetic Nurse Practitioner team at Thistle Medical Aesthetics in Stafford, Virginia have you covered with a personalized plan. We invite you in for a consultation here so that we can learn more about your goals and provide treatment recommendations that are best suited for you. We look forward to helping you achieve your goals!
